Missing You
by Bloodrayne666
Summary: The Sonic Team are getting themselves together after the battle with the Metarex, yet Rouge is deeply mourning the loss of her true Love Shadow, but is he still alive? and things get complicated when Rouge finds out she's pregnant, with his baby! COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Missing You**

**Chapter One**

**A New life**

All was calm and peaceful on the planet Mobius; it had been over a month since the Metarex were defeated and everything on Mobius was almost back to Normal, well, not totally, for there was something happening in the Mobotropolis Cemetery.

The Sonic team, and the Chaotix were standing around a grave all dressed in black, all looking at a large black coffin that was about to be lowered into the ground in front of them, conducting the service was an old badger standing reading a speech.

At the front Sonic the Hedgehog was crying softly with Tails and Amy on either side of him looking at the coffin in front of them, there on the black coffin were some beautiful flowers, and there was a photograph of the young hero boy Chris smiling and staring at them with his frozen blue eyes.

"How could you?" whispered Sonic softly "how could you do such a thing to him?" Tails looked at Sonic and squeezed his hand, "how could Eggman murder him so brutally?" Sonic whispered again with tears rolling down his cheeks, he shut his eyes as he remembered clearly what had happened to that Pod and Chris was in it….

**Flashback**

_Sonic was running from the hill he usually had his Sunday rest under after running, he had been resting there for a long while and he had heard Cosmo's voice from the sky saying she was still alive and happy back with her mother and were in a new home. Sonic had felt so happy that she was ok, that he had run back to find his friends and tell them the good news. _

_As he ran he saw something flying in the air, it looked like a pod, he ran faster and faster until he finally was running under it, and he saw the face of his best friend, the human boy who helped them save their planet and the galaxy. Chris Thorndyke._

_As he ran, he tried to see if he could say one final goodbye, but before he had a chance, the pod suddenly began to jerk, then smoke began to pour from the back of the pod. Sonic's heart froze, but before he could make a sound or even stop, the pod exploded in a huge fireball._

"_NNNOOOOOO!" screamed Sonic "CHRIS!" he stopped dead in his tracks and watched helplessly as the fire spread everywhere, filling the sky with smoke and fire. Sonic screamed again "NNOOOOO!" he fell to his knees and tears of devestation and grief began to fall._

**Flashback**

Sonic clutched his fist around a red rose he held in his hand, "I'll never forgive you Eggman" he whispered as he gritted his teeth, "I'll never forget it; I'm still coming after you!" in his head he could still see the image of Chris's pod exploding in the sky.

Amy Rose who stood next to him reached out and placed a hand on his fist, "Sonic?" she whispered, Sonic turned to her, Amy walked closer to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, usually when she did that, Sonic would resist and try to pull away, but this time, he didn't, he leaned on her, his tears finally falling in rapid rivers.

Amy looked around at the crowd, Knuckles was standing near the grave wringing his hands, Rouge was standing nearby dabbing her eyes with a white tissue, Cream was sobbing and hugging her mother Vanilla who was also crying and the Chaotix were simply standing in silence.

"I just can't understand it" she whispered, she "Why would Eggman kill him?" she then remembered dhow Sonic and gone onto the Metarex base to look for Chris and Cosmo, he had then discovered that Dark Oak was torturing them. As Sonic was forced to watch he had transformed into Dark Sonic and had destroyed two of Dark Oak's Metarex warriors, but Eggman had talked him out of his anger and had told Dark Oak _'It's all very well kidnapping someone and threatening them, but when you actually hurt someone that's going too far" _"he said that back then" thought Amy "but he murdered our friend!"

Amy then looked back at the priest who continued to speak, "Chris was a brave young boy who always put his friends first and was never afraid to face danger, he faced many enemies, and never backed down, he was a true hero and a true friend"

Sonic nodded "It's true" he whispered "never showed fear, he was always there for his friends" he gritted his teeth as tears flowed from his eyes. Amy squeezed his hand.

After a while the coffin was lowered into the ground and everyone began to throw flowers onto the grave, Sonic threw the rose onto the coffin then turned away, Tails and Amy followed him. "Sonic!" said Amy, she ran in front of Sonic who still had tears running from his eyes.

"What is it Ames?" he asked quietly "We're worried about you" said Amy, Sonic looked at her, tears appearing in his eyes, "Amy…" he whispered "Eggman killed my best friend….one who never did anything to him….he killed him in cold blood!" "Shhh Shhh Sonic" said Amy soothingly "come on, I'll take you to my house and we'll talk there" "Ok" whispered Sonic, he then took Amy's hand and followed her out of the cemetery.

Meanwhile Rouge was standing opposite a small plaque; she was staring at what it said in big letters,

SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG

FEARLESS HERO

LOYAL ALLY

MUCH MISSED, GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN

"Shadow" she whispered "How could you? Why did you give your life to save us? Why did you give up everything just to save us? I miss you so much…I wish you weren't gone" she placed a red rose on the plaque and kissed her fingers, she then placed her fingers on the plaque and a single tear trickled down her cheek and landed on rose.

"Rouge?" then a voice brought her back down to earth; Rouge looked up to see Knuckles standing behind her. "What are you doing?" "Oh..." said Rouge "just paying my respects to another hero" Knuckles sighed "come on Rouge" he said "I doubt it Shadow would want you kneeling at his memorial plaque all day" Rouge sighed "I miss him Knuckles" she whispered.

She then stood up, and began to walk away, she kept her eyes on the plaque, as she looked at it, she saw a brown dog and a grey hawk beginning to bury Chris's coffin. She sighed and turned away to walk back to her apartment, her mind still on Shadow.

**Well, here's my new fic and this time Shadouge drama. I guess some of you readers may have noticed the close refrences to the Sonic X series three final episode. Wel this is a follow up to the Sonic X series.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, I won't be updating for a couple of weeks as I'm on Holiday in France, but don't fear! I'll hopefully get some inspiration and I'll have some more chapter's written so I can update again as well as get a bit of rest from working hard! **

**Until then Darkest Wishes! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Memories**

When Rouge got back to her apartment she walked into her bedroom and began to take off her black clothes, she undressed, then put on a small purple robe, she then went into the bathroom to run a hot bath.

As she was waiting for the water to run she stared out of the window, all through the funeral she had been thinking about how much the Team had missed Chris and were so upset he had died, but she thought, non of them could be as upset as she was about Shadow, she remembered how they had fought against the metarex in the final battle and how she had had to just stand there and try to hold back tears as she watched Shadow use Chaos Control to warp the Explosion away from the ship.

_**Flashback**_

_As they had managed to defeat the Metarex, Cosmo had sacrificed herself to weaken Dark Oak's planet, but now the planet was about to explode and the ship that the Sonic team, the Chaotix and Eggman's team were on were right in front of it._

_Sonic and Shadow were hovering near it, Sonic had realised what was about to happen and was about to Chaos Control it away, but before he could complete his sentence Shadow punched him in the gut making him float away from the exploding planet._

_Rouge had been watching, and she realised what Shadow was about to do "NO!" she thought "NO! Shadow you're making a big mistake!" But Shadow had already performed the chaos control and had warped the planet away into the distance._

_As the exploding planet vanished, everyone stared in awe. The whole ship was silent until Vector broke it, "Hey what just happened?" "Where's Shadow?" asked Charmy. Everyone began wondering the same thing until a flash shone in the distance far away. Everyone stared at it for a long time as it glittered like a large star._

_"I wonder what happened?" said Espio "he used Chaos Control" said Rouge; her heart began to beat in her chest at the thought of what might have happened to Shadow out there. "It must have taken all the energy he had left" said Knuckles, "Shadow…" Rouge whispered trying to fight back tears that began to form in her eyes. _

_Meanwhile, Chris stared at the glittering light and sniffled as he thought of Shadow who may have risked his life to chaos control the explosion away from them. Meanwhile Tails stood at the top of the ship looking at the light thinking about his lost friend Cosmo; he then turned around to see Sonic walking towards him looking very serious._

_"Sonic?" he asked he then stepped away from the blue hedgehog as he walked closer to him, "erm…Sonic" he said sheepishly "I know you're mad at me but…." Sonic didn't speak instead he got hold of Tails's hand gently and placed something into it. "Here Tails" he said, he then shut his eyes sadly "sorry…." _

_Tails looked at what was in his hand as Sonic spoke "I looked for Cosmo, but this is all I found" Tails stared at his hand, what Sonic had put there was a tiny white seed. "A seed" he said tearfully. Tails then burst into tears and leaned on Sonic "oh Sonic" he sobbed "why did this have to happen? It's just not fair! Now I'll never see her again! SHE WAS MY FRIEND!" Tails couldn't speak anymore, he just sobbed and sobbed, and Sonic held him close "I miss her!" Tails sobbed "she can't be gone!" _

_Meanwhile Rouge stared at the bright lights, "Shadow…" she whispered "how could you do this? I know you saved our lives, but why did you have to go? Why did you sacrifice yourself? Why did you leave me behind?"_

_**End Flashback**_

Rouge felt her tears beginning to fall again, she them remembered when she was in Eggman's base and she had been standing looking at where Shadow's pod was when he was in a deep sleep and how she missed him even more.

_**Flashback**_

_Rouge stood there standing at the pod for a long time, she folded her arms and tried to hold back tears, "Shadow…" she thought inside her head "why…? Why did you have to give your life to save us? Why did you? I miss you so much…"_

_As she was daydreaming, she heard Eggman appear at the doorway "I can't believe it!" she heard the doctor say, Rouge turned to face him a bit shocked "You're worried about Shadow aren't you?" "Of course not!" said Rouge facing away from him and trying to sound like she didn't care. "I don't give a hoot about what happened to that hedgehog!"_

_"Is that so?" asked Eggman, "well I'm not at all concerned about Shadow" "he was designed to be the ultimate creature by my grandfather Dr Robotnick, who was almost a great a genius as me" Rouge walked away from the empty and walked towards the fat doctor" so…" she said softly "where do you think he is?" the doctor raised an eyebrow at Rouge. Rouge narrowed her eyes "hhmmm, he knows something" she thought._

_End flashback_

Rouge then turned away from the window and walked towards the bathroom, she could smell the relaxing lavender flowing from the door. She inhaled deeply letting the hot lavender scented air fill her lungs.

She walked over to the bath and unveiled herself, she then stepped inside, as she lay down, she let the hot water cover her in its embrace. She closed her eyes and let the scent of the lavender fill her nostrils. "Shadow…." She whispered "Oh Shadow, even though I'm grateful you saved us from the metarex…I still miss you like hell…" she lay back and closed her eyes, letting the water cover her more, and her hot tears trickle from the corners of her eyes.

**Hey everyone! I'm back! I promised I would be! France was great, but it's good to be back!**

**Here's my update on Missing You, I watched most of the Sonic X episodes to try and get the script right, I did make some changes, but there we go. **

**Hope you enjoy it! **

**Love Bloodrayne666**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**Loneliness**

The next morning, Rouge decided to take herself for a walk in the Mobotropolis Park, she was still feeling sad, she had been laying awake at night thinking about Shadow, she felt so lost.

As she walked she saw many mobian couples. Some were sitting on benches looking at the shining lake where the ducks were swimming, some were walking either holding hands or with their arms around each other and some were families with young children who were running on the grass or around the lake feeding the ducks.

Rouge felt more alone than ever, she felt even worse as she saw a couple of swans on the lake nuzzling each other, their arched necks making a heart shape as their beaks touched. Rouge sighed and walked on, she then went to sit on an empty bench. As she sat there she tried not to think about what it would have been like if Shadow was with her.

As she sat there, she then saw Sonic and Amy sitting together on the side of the lake, Rouge's eyes widened, she wondered why Sonic and Amy were together, it seemed strange. Often if Amy came near Sonic, Sonic would try and run off before Amy would try to glomp him, but this time Sonic seemed relaxed and was talking to Amy whilst she was sitting quietly and listening. Rouge began to wonder what they were talking about:

Sonic stared at the lake looking at Amy; his eyes were still filled with anger and sadness from Chris's death. "All these times Amy" he said "when we were teleported to earth all those years ago, he gave us shelter, kept us secret, looked after us, then he soon helped us fight Eggman when he caused trouble"

Amy nodded listening to the grieving hedgehog's every word, "when Eggman attacks again" said Sonic, gritting his teeth as tears filled his eyes, "he'll fear my wrath, when we meet again, I'm gonna kill him!" Sonic then bowed his head and sobbed hard, Amy leaned forward and pulled him close to her, Sonic then rested against her and cried into her soft stomach. As he sobbed, Amy stroked his quills whispering comforting words to him.

Rouge watched them for a while, even though she felt happy for the two hedgehog's she still felt sad, she turned away and began to walk back towards her apartment. "If only I had someone to cry with" she thought to herself. She walked on and wrung her hands, not caring if people were looking at her.

She walked out of the park and began to walk towards the cemetery, on her way she went to a floristry to buy some flowers, some red roses, the florist, a female grey Koala bear smiled at her and asked who the flowers were for, but then looked embarrassed when Rouge told her the reason, to place them on her lover's memorial.

Rouge then began to walk to the cemetery again, holding the roses close to her chest, looking at the roses reminded her of when she hid a chaos emerald inside one of them to give to Eggman, and she had met Shadow for the very first time.

_Flashback_

_Rouge had given Eggman the Chaos Emerald and had seen the handsome black hedgehog with red quills standing with his back to her. "Who's this charming young friend of yours?" she asked looking at Shadow admiring his magnificent quills "I'm Rouge the Bat, what's your name?"_

_"It's Shadow" said Shadow, then turning to face her, "Shadow the Hedgehog" as he spoke, his ruby red eyes burned into her shining aqua ones, they shone and burned with such fire that Rouge couldn't take her eyes away, "oh" she whispered as she looked back, as she stared at him, all the thoughts of her passion for jewels disappeared from her head, now it seemed the only jewels that were her passion were the rubies that shone in Shadow's eyes, so firey and powerful._

_End Flashback_

Rouge still felt the entranced feeling of looking into Shadow's eyes flowing through her. Those two rubies that glittered. Even though she could not touch them, she could still see their glittering beauty and the preciousness in them.

Rouge walked into the cemetery and walked over to Shadow's plaque, she placed the roses next to some dried roses that had been laying there for some days, she once again kissed her lips and placed them on the plaque, "I brought you your favourites Shadow" she whispered "red roses, red, to match your red quills, and those ruby red eyes of yours" She shed a tear as she knelt there for a long time. She then stood up and walked away.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**Sonic's Greif**

Later that evening, at Amy's house, Sonic was in Amy's living room leaning against an armchair between Amy's legs as she was massaging his shoulders, "That evil man!" whispered Sonic, "if only I could have been there, Chris would never had been murdered…I would have stopped the whole thing!"

Amy squeezed Sonic's shoulders as Sonic hunched up, "shhh shhh Sonikku" she whispered "it's not your fault, you didn't know what he was planning" Sonic clenched his hands "but I never expected Eggman to do something that evil" whispered Sonic, "I never knew he would actually murder someone"

"He's tried taking over Mobius, he's used some of us as experiments, yet he ever murdered anyone…not till now…" Amy stopped massaging his shoulders and slid down behind him to wrap her arms around him. Sonic tensed as she did, then relaxed, normally he would try and get away, but this time he relaxed into her embrace and rested against her.

"I'm here Sonic" she whispered "we all are" Sonic rested against Amy's rising and falling chest listening to her beating heart and nodded sadly. He thought about all the other members of the Sonic Team. Cream and Cheese would probably be picking flowers and making them into pretty arrangements so they could place them on Chris's grave, Tails had Cosmo's seed planted in his workshop and was no doubt thinking about the brave girl who helped save them from the Metarex.

Knuckles he knew would probably be guarding the Master Emerald and thinking about Chris, he remembered Knuckles saying that Chris had thought of building a house for himself on Angel Island. "If only he had built the house" he thought to himself "if only, if only we have made him build it"

He then thought about the Chaotix and thought they would probably be doing their business as usual, yet still with sadness in their hearts. They were all suffering in their hearts, all upset about Chris's death and had fury towards Eggman.

"There's another person I'm concerned about" said Amy pulling Sonic from his thoughts, "what?" asked Sonic, "Rouge" said Amy, "why?" asked Sonic "I've noticed her not herself, not since the metarex were defeated, when Shadow sacrificed himself, Rouge has been retreated to her apartment and not coming out"

Sonic turned to Amy, "what are you talking about?" he asked "I'm saying that Rouge seems saddened" said Amy "remember when we buried Chris? I saw her as we were walking out of the graveyard, her looking at Shadow's plaque and crying"

Sonic thought for a moment, he remembered Rouge had asked that Shadow be remembered for such a brave deed he did, he had agreed with her knowing that Shadow deserved to be acknowledged a hero.

"Is there something we don't know?" he asked Amy, Amy shrugged "I dunno" she said "All I think is that she seemed very upset, and seems like she's in love with him" Sonic shrugged, "what do you think we should do?" he asked. Amy shook her head not knowing what to do or think.

Sonic looked away from her and began to lose himself in his thoughts again, he thought about how he was going to make Eggman pay for taking Chris's life. "Don't think I'll ever forget what you did Eggman" he thought "I will come and I will take your life, I'll make you pay for what you did…..you've really pushed my buttons"

**So...Eggman has really pushed Sonic to the limit...**

**Sorry this was a bit short, but the next part will be longer. I promise! XD!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**Signs**

A few days later Rouge sat at her kitchen table drinking coffee, it was almost nine and she was still wearing her purple robe, as she drank her coffee, she was deep in thought, she was staring at a calendar, and was a little worried.

"It's been a week now" she thought, "I should have had it by now" she crossed her legs and read the calendar again trying to count back. "If I had it a month ago, it should have come a week ago" she looked up, a shadow was crawling over her, it enveloped her mind and began to sink in, "no…" she whispered to herself "I can't be" she then realised "my period is late" her mind began to wonder back to almost over a month ago.

_Flashback_

_Rouge sat on her bed and stared out of the window in her bedroom on Eggman's ship, she was worried about what was happening in the galaxy, she was so scared the would never win the battle, and they would all die. As she sat there worrying, she heard a voice. "Rouge" she turned and looked across to Shadow who stared at her with his red eyes, two red rubies that glittered in the low light of the room. Rouge crossed her legs as she looked up at him._

"_Shadow" she whimpered "I'm so scared….so scared we'll never win the battle" "we will Rouge! I know it" said Shadow "we cannot let those metarex take over, even if we do not survive we will not let them destroy the galaxy!" He clenched his fst, "I swear on my life…those monsters will not destroy the galaxy! And if they do…!"_

_Rouge bit her lips and her stomach lurched, "No!" she whispered "we can't…we can't let that happen! We can't let them take over!" "I won't allow it!" said Shadow "I won't allow those evil Metarex take over…and kill us all!" Rouge thought about all the planets that weren't saved, then she thought about their planet, what if they were defeated, and killed? It was all too horrible to bear._

_As all these images flooded her head, Rouge began crying, as she cried, her tears dripped on her hand and her eyeliner began to run with it. As she cried, she suddenly felt a hand under her chin. "Hey..." said a gentle voice, she looked up to see Shadow looking at her, his eyes, that were usually filled with anger, hate and revenge now looked so gentle and comforting._

_Rouge could hardly believe that this tough and fairly dangerous hedgehog was comforting her, "did he ever comfort Maria like this?" she thought "when he was sad?" she then felt the hedgehog reach up and cup her face, she then saw him lean closer. The next thing she knew, Shadow lips were touching hers, Rouge felt her heart leap, but she didn't try to pull away, she enjoyed Shadow's lips on her's._

_Shadow licked her lips, then moved his tongue in her mouth trying to find hers, Rouge moaned and moved her hands up around his shoulders. As she embraced him, Shadow deepened the kiss and began to move his fingers through her hair. Rouge moaned more, then sighed softly as Shadow pushed her down onto the bed, holding her close to him………_

_End Flashback_

It then dawned on her "if I did it with Shadow….then I must be…no!" she said to herself loudly "I got to check it out, to see if it is true!" she drank her coffee, placed it in the sink then walked upstairs to get dressed.

After she had gotten herself dressed Rouge began to walk down into the city to go to the pharmacist, she had decided to get a pregnancy test, "I just need to be sure…" she saw the pharmacy and walked in, as she did, she saw some Mobians looking at different products.

Rouge then saw a woman looking at a make up range, then woman picked up a lipstick and held it up next to her skin, Rouge smiled weakly, maybe she was thinking of buying make up for a special night out, or to look beautiful for her loved one. She walked ahead to the counter where a young brown goose was standing.

"Hi" said Rouge in a small voice, the goose looked up and smiled at her, "I need a pregnancy test" the goose nodded with a smile and walked over to the back of the counter and bought a pack of six, Rouge then paid for them and walked out of the pharmacy. She bit her lip as she thought about whether she could be pregnant.

As soon as Rouge got home she walked up to her bathroom, she studied the tests and read the instructions, they seemed simple enough as they had an effective telling in words saying whether she been pregnant or not.

Rouge had taken a plastic cup from her kitchen so she could take a urine sample then dip the sticks in, she took a urine sample then took the sticks out of the boxes, her heart was beating hard in her chest, she didn't know what to do if she was pregnant. One by one she dipped the sticks in the urine then she paced the bathroom for two minutes, the whole thing was excruciating, her heart beat so hard she could feel it vibrate through her whole body.

Finally Rouge went to look at the sticks, she bit her lip and read through them, she then felt her mouth go dry as she saw the results, all six said pregnant, "oh shit" she whispered, she dropped the sticks and began to pace the bathroom. Her head was spinning and her stomach was churning, it was all too much, "who can I turn to…?" she thought in a worry "who? And how am I going to deal with this alone?"

**So...Rouge has discovered she's pregnant! Oh my Goodness! **

**Let me know what you think!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**Cutting in**

Meanwhile on Angel Island, Knuckles was sitting on the steps on the alter of the Master Emerald, as he sat there he was thinking about what Chris had said to him before he was murdered.

_Flashback_

_Knuckles stood facing the shrine, the Master Emerald had been shattered to pieces as it had helped them fight the Metarex, but he knew in time it would heal and restore to its true form._

_"The Master Emerald will return to its proper state when its power is restored" he said confidently to Chris who stood behind him. "Will you do your chant?" asked Chris, Knuckles smiled then raised his arms up above his head and began to chant "please hear me o Master Emerald!" he cried "and be restored now! Like that?" he asked lowering his arms and grinning at Chris who laughed "Yeah" Chris giggled "your chant is very funny" then he realised what he just said "Oh...erm sorry, I didn't" "ah none taken" Knuckles interrupted._

_"I think I'll let nature take it's course" said Knuckles as he went to sit on the steps of the shrine, "the Master Emerald helped save the galaxy so it will take time to heal" he then sat down and sat back "in the meantime, I thought that I'd kick back and take it easy, we deserve a rest too Chris"_

_"I guess so" agreed Chris walking over to sit next to him. "Since it looks like I'll be staying here" he said "I was wondering about whether to build myself a house" "huh?" said Knuckles "what do you mean how you just go ahead and build it!" Chris chuckled "you make it sound so easy" he said "but it's not that simple, there's a lot of things to think about like where would I build it?"_

_"What do you mean where?" cried Knuckles "there's tons of land around you, just pick a spot!" "But what if that spot belongs to someone else?" "In our world its first come first served" replied Knuckles laughing, when suddenly he stopped laughing. "Hey!" he cried "you're not planning on building one here are ya?"_

_Chris stammered "well…I…er…I thought that around these old ruins was good a place as any, it's kinda pretty ya know" Knuckles smiled proudly "sure it's pretty, you go right ahead and build, it's just lucky your good friend Knuckles didn't a spot picked out for his place"_

_Chris laughed "yeah, lucky" Knuckles then glared at him "that was a hint kid" he growled, Chris looked at him "you know Knuckles, I'm really happy for you guys, being home and all" Knuckles rested back and closed his eyes "yeah" he said "it sure is nice"_

_End Flashback_

Knuckles sighed sadly, "maybe if I had convinced him to start building then I wouldn't be so alone here" he said, as he looked at the large green jewel that glittered in the sun, "talking of which" he thought "I am starting to miss the way Rouge would tease me and try to get near the Master Emerald"

He remembered the times he and Rouge had together and some of the times that they bickered, and when she had tried to get the Master Emerald. "I'm actually starting to miss that now" he sighed, "even if she did get on my cock trying to steal it and even touch it, she was always kinda cute"

Knuckles then stood up and stretched his legs and arms, he felt a bit stiff from sitting on the stone steps, he then straightened his brown hat which he wore to protect his head from the sun. He then took his cell phone out of his light blue jeans pocket and searched for Rouge's number.

He found it then clicked it, then waited for Rouge to answer:

Meanwhile, Rouge was sitting in her living room thinking about Shadow, she was holding a photograph of him in her head, the last photo she had of him before he gave his life to the Metarex. As she was lost in her thoughts she jumped when her phone rang, she walked over and picked it up "Hello?" she called.

"Rouge" Knuckles's voice came from the other side "it's me Knuckles" "oh" said Rouge a little surprised "hey Knuckles" "how you feeling?" asked Knuckles, "well…I…I'm ok" said Rouge when in truth she really wasn't, with her finding out she was pregnant and also missing Shadow like hell was really making her feel crushed.

"Oh Ok" said Knuckles "I was just ringing to ask if…well…you want to go out….tonight?" Rouge's eye's widened, did Knuckles just ask her out? She was a bit worried, yet she felt lonely and she felt like she needed company. "Oh ok" she said after a minute "sure, I'm not busy…" "Great" said Knuckles "so shall I meet you in Mobotropolis? Where do you want to go?"

Rouge thought for a moment, "Can we go to that Moonlight Fountains place in Central Mobotropolis?" she asked "it's my favourite restaurant?" Knuckles tried to remember the place, he wasn't always in Mobotropolis as he spent a lot of his time guarding the Master Emerald, but he sort of remembered, "yes…" he said "of course, we'll go there…wherever you like"

"Cool" said Rouge managing a weak smile "so say…7.30pm? Your place and we'll walk there?" "Sure" said Rouge, "I'd love that" Knuckles grinned "ok cool" he said "see you later" he then hung up. Rouge placed her phone down, then sat back in her chair "that sure was nice of Knuckles" she stroked her stomach, "at least I won't be alone tonight"

**Poor Rouge...all alone. **

**And Knuckles missed her teasing? Thats interesting! Btw, the flashback scene I took from the last Sonic X episode, I hope I got all the text correct! XD**

**Let me know what you think!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**The Date**

That Evening Rouge stood in front of her full length mirror looking at the way she was dressed, she had changed out of her black trousers, and top with the pink and white heart-shaped chest plate and was wearing a long black evening gown.

It clung to her body lining every part of her perfect form, there was a split on the bottom that showed off her silky smooth tan legs, and the front was low showing her perfect ample cleavage. She then began to brush her white hair letting it sit on her slender smooth shoulders, she sure looked the belle of the ball yet she felt very strange inside.

She was happy that Knuckles was being nice to her, yet she felt like she was betraying Shadow, "Oh Shadow" she whispered "I hope you don't think I'm cheating on you, I'm only accepting Knuckle's kindness, he seemed caring, knowing I feel devastated at your loss" she sighed, as she did, she heard the doorbell ring. Rouge quickly checked herself, then snatched up her small glittery handbag then ran down the stairs to the front door.

When she reached the front door she opened it and there on the steps stood Knuckles, he was wearing a dark brown suit with a white shirt underneath and a red bow tie. He had even tidied his spines and must have put some shiner on them to make them look shiny.

"Hey Rouge" he said smiling, Rouge smiled back "you look nice Knuckles" she said, "thanks" said Knuckles "and you look gorgeous" "Rouge smiled again, "thanks" she said "so…shall we?" asked Knuckles, he held up his elbow so Rouge could take it. Rouge wrapped her hand around Knuckle's arm and they began to walk towards the town.

When they reached the restaurant, Rouge stared at the large glittering lights above the restaurant spelling out 'Moonlight Fountains' Knuckles lead Rouge in through the doors where a smartly dressed Racoon was standing.

"Table for two please under the name Echidna" said Knuckles, the raccoon nodded "right this way" he said, he lead Knuckles and Rouge to a table in the corner. Rouge looked around the restaurant, she really loved this place, even though it was expensive she did love it.

The restaurant had a large fountain with shining lights in it making it sparkle, there were also fountains against the walls, and the table's clothes were moonlight blue and white. She saw a couple of Mobians, a male Mole and his girlfriend a yellow canary throwing a coin in the water to make a wish.

Rouge sighed, then turned to where Knuckles had pulled her chair out for her, Rouge smiled in thanks and sat down, the raccoon then smiled and said "I will be over shortly to take your order" he said handing them some menus. Knuckles looked at Rouge, "I see why you like it here" Rouge nodded, Knuckles looked around the place and said "sure is unique, yet lovely"

Rouge nodded "that's way I love it so much" she said, she began to fiddle with the silver cutlery. Knuckles was just about to say something else when the raccoon appeared holding a notepad. "Can I get you some drinks?" he asked. "Yes please" said Knuckles "a pint of beer please" he said "and I'll just have a glass of water" said Rouge; she usually had wine when she went out, but being pregnant she decided to keep away from the booze.

"Of course" said the raccoon, "and you ready to order?" Knuckles looked at Rouge who said "I'll have the steak please? With potatoes and mixed vegetables?" the raccoon wrote it down on his pad, then looked at Knuckles "and I'll have the chicken with potatoes and mixed vegetables" he said. The raccoon then nodded and walked off.

Whilst they waited for their food, Knuckles looked at Rouge, "so Rouge" he said "it's been over a month since we defeated the Metarex…." Rouge nodded "yes" she said "it has been over a month, yet everything seems to have gone back to normal, everything seems like it was before"

"Except for Sonic though" said Knuckles as he rand his finger over the rim of his beer glass "the blue blur hasn't been himself at all since Chris was murdered by Eggman" Rouge sighed again as she thought of the funeral they had for the boy. "I just wish I had convinced Chris to start building right away" said Knuckles sadly, "if I had that Eggman wouldn't have lured him"

Rouge looked at Knuckles "don't blame yourself" she said "it's not your fault, Eggman doesn't give up, he's not the person who would, I know that doctor pretty well" Knuckles looked at Rouge and nodded, he knew the white bat knew Eggman well. "Poor Chris" knuckles continued, "I bet his family are still wondering if he'll ever come back, then they realise what happened to him"

Rouge shrugged then sipped her water, she still had Shadow on her mind, "do you ever wonder if Shadow may still be alive?" she asked Knuckles out of the blue. Knuckles's violet eyes widened "Erm…" he said "I dunno…" Rouge shook her head "you must think I'm stupid but, I miss him so much…I don't know why I said that…."

Knuckles opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't get a chance to say something when the Raccoon appeared holding two plate of food, "dinner is served" he said placing the two plates of food down on the place mats. Rouge nodded in thanks and began to slowly cut into her steak.

Knuckles then began to speak again, "I know you're thinking about Shadow and how much you miss him" he said "but you gotta remember…he was a hero…and a great one too…he gave his life to save us…." Rouge felt tears start to appear but she tried to hold them in as she heard Knuckles's words.

She placed some steak into her mouth, then chewed, the meat clogged in her mouth, her mouth had gone dry from her sadness, she took a sip of her water, but it didn't give her moisture to wash away the dryness. Knuckles noticed she was looking sad. "Rouge…?"

Rouge looked up at Knuckles, "I'm sorry…" she whispered "but he did mean a lot to me…even if we were allies….he saved my life many times, not just from the Metarex, but from other dangers…" she bit her lip as a single tear fell. Knuckles reached across and touched her hand across the table.

"Rouge" he said in a comforting voice, "it's ok….I understand" Rouge nodded at him silently in thanks as she wiped her tear, as Knuckles stroked her hand his beer glass suddenly tipped over and poured all over his trousers. Knuckles jumped up and swore loudly, as he did, a few people at their tables turned to look at him.

Rouge looked up surprised, "how did that happen?" she asked "I dunno" said Knuckles looking at the beer soaking through his brown trousers, "dammit!" he looked up at Rouge "be right back, I gotta clean this up" Rouge nodded and watched as he ran to the bathroom to dry his trousers. She then looked at the fallen glass and wondered how it had fallen.

Later that evening, Knuckles walked with Rouge back to her apartment, "I had lovely evening thanks Knuckles" said Rouge. Knuckles nodded as he stood at Rouge's door with her.

"You wanna come out again?" Knuckles asked as Rouge fumbled in her handbag to look for her house key, she found it and placed it in the lock. "I…" said Rouge "ok…sure why not?" "Cool" said Knuckles with a smile, his eyes wondering up and down Rouge's slender body admiring her curves.

"I'll take you to the park tomorrow, maybe lunch?" "Ok" said Rouge, "twelve suits me" she added. "Great" said Knuckles, he leaned towards Rouge to kiss her, but Rouge stopped him. "…s…sorry Knuckles…" she said blushing "I...I'm sorry...I don't feel...". Knuckles looked disappointed but he nodded "it's ok…" he said "I'm sorry too" Rouge smiled again as she opened the door "thanks again for a lovely evening" she said as she walked inside leaving Knuckles standing on the step.

**Oh...Knuckles is pretty forward! And I wonder how the glass tipped over? **

**Let me know what you think!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**Sonic's Vendetta**

The next day was warm and sunny, and Amy was at Tails's workshop watching him work on the X-Tornado, she was sitting on one of the wooden tables near the window where Cosmo's seed was growing swinging her legs to and fro.

Tails turned the screwdriver on the X-Tornado's wing and tapped it many times to make sure it was secure. "Tails" said Amy "are you worried about Sonic?" Tails looked up from working on the X-Tornado, "what you saying Amy?" he asked, "He's been so withdrawn….and angry….since Chris's murder, he's been talking about going after Eggman"

Tails looked sad when Chris's name was mentioned, "I'm worried about Sonic because…I've never seen him so angry and furious before" Tails placed his screwdriver on the wooden table next to him. "Hey Amy" he said "what if you're right? Sonic has never been so furious, I remember when he turned into Dark Sonic when Dark Oak was torturing Chris and…" he bit his lip when he thought about Cosmo trying to hold back his sadness. Amy sighed "I dunno what he'll do…but it makes me worry…"

Meanwhile Sonic was sitting in his living room going through some photos, mainly with him, Chris and the rest of the team when they were teleported to Earth all those years ago.

"It was such a strange adventure…yet so surreal" he said to himself, "such an experience…Being somewhere that wasn't my world…even though it changed my life…and the other's forever….I never regretted what happened….and I never wished it never happened…we had many adventures….and many missions…and learnt so much…."

Sonic dropped one of the photos on the pile and sighed, "I don't know what life may have been like if you hadn't been lured into Eggman's death trap…but….he looked at a picture of Eggman on the side table, he then picked up a glass and threw it at the picture in anger making it fall off the table and shatter.

"I will get you back for this Eggman! You'll never escape my wrath, after what you did to Chris…it doesn't end here!" he stood up and walked into his kitchen, as he walked in, he saw the knives in the stand; he took the largest sharpest knife out of the stand and looked at it.

It shone in the kitchen light and he could see his reflection clearly in it, "I'm make him confess to why he killed Chris" Sonic thought, "I shall force him…I shall make him talk…squeal and explain…to why he killed that kid in cold blood" He placed the knife on the counter and sighed.

He then began to remember when Cosmo and Chris were captured and tortured by Dark Oak, seeing that evil Metarex leader hurting his two friends had made his blood boil:

_Flashback_

"_CHRIS!" Sonic shouted running to the glass ball that his friends were trapped in, "COSMO!" Cosmo placed her hands on the glass, her eyes looking so fearful and pleading, Sonic felt tears of anger appear in his eyes as he stared at his two friends._

_Just then he heard a cackling behind him, "The fate of your friends rests entirely in your hands!" it was Dark Oak! "If you choose to oppose me, then I assure you they will suffer a painful price! It should be quite entertaining!"_

_Sonic knelt on the floor broken, his heart beat so hard in his chest it hurt, and he breathed heavily, broken by the sight of his two friends in fear and agony, he could feel anger inside him growing so much he could hardly contain it. "Well Sonic" snarled Dark Oak "what is your decision? Are you ready to proceed with the experiment?"_

_Sonic could hardly speak because of his fury, "I've never seen Cosmo look so scared" he said "humph, she should be" said Dark Oak, Sonic then growled in fury "and Chris….has passed out! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?" as he screamed, his fur began to dark and poisonous colour than the sky sapphire blue fur he had._

"_He attempted to escape" cackled Dark Oak "and was taught a painful lesson!" as he spoke two tall Metarex appeared, one was a gold colour and the other was a silvery colour. "It's time for the Experiment" snarled the Evil Dark monster, "these two Metarex were designed by me especially for this occasion, Gold will test your strength, and Silver, your speed, I based my Metarex's designs on data that was based on previous battles against you! I'm eager to see if they're powerful enough to defeat you!"_

_As Dark Oak spoke, Sonic clenched his fist, evil laughter erupting from his mouth, he turned to the two metarex, "aright then" he snarled "lets test 'em out!" he then leapt in the air and began to beat up the metarex to shreds in his fury. As the gold Metarex exploded, it filled the room with smoke; Sonic's poisonous white eyes glowed through the black swirls of smoke._

"_Looks like you'll to go back to the drawing board" Sonic snarled. Just then he heard a familiar voice "Settle down Sonic, I don't think I've ever seen you this worked up before" Sonic looked across to see Dr Eggman standing there with his two robot assistants." You're not the only one having a bad day you know!" said one of them. "Our trip was a real space odyssey" added the other._

"_We had some mechanical difficulties" began Eggman," for some reason the egg drive got scrambled up, space travel is tricky, I've wandered past so many planets I'm starting to see stars", Eggman then turned to Sonic as the hedgehog began to calm down and his fur began to return to normal. _

" _Listen Sonic" continued Eggman, I'm really disappointed in you, from now on be careful not to let your anger get out of control, or one day you'll find you're always angry, just like another hedgehog we know"_

_End Flashback_

Sonic clenched his fists, "you liar, you sick liar!" he whispered in fury, he then looked at a photo taken of Shadow on Mobius, one Rouge had given him. "Now I know how you felt Shad" he said "after you lost Maria, I know how you feel now" He looked away from the photo and began to walk upstairs to his room.

**Sorry this took so long! Writer's Block! It's a pain!**

**I got the scene from Sonic X, hope I got it ok! Let me know what you think!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

**The S****econd Date**

Meanwhile Rouge was walking through the park with Knuckles, as they walked Knuckles listened as Rouge talked non-stop about Shadow. "When we were fighting the Metarex" said Rouge, "he never left my side, we fought to the end…we kept close to each other, determined to not let the other die, he risked his life many times to save mine"

Knuckles nodded "as we all almost died trying to save the galaxy from those monsters" he said "I still can't forget Dark Oak and those creatures" Rouge nodded, "yet none of us were as brave as Shadow" she whispered "that brave hedgehog…" she looked up at the sky, it was a bright blue and not a cloud was visible.

Knuckles nodded again, "if he were still alive" said Rouge as a tear appeared, "if he was with us, if he had survived, I would have requested a reward for him…." Knuckles then wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "he would be happy to know that we're safe" said Knuckles "and he wouldn't have wanted you to get sad" Rouge nodded, "yeah…" she said "I suppose"

She then looked down at her stomach, she placed a hand on it, even though it was a few days since she found out she was pregnant, she wondered how Shadow would have taken it, whether he would be pleased, or shocked. "If only you were here Shad" she whispered "knowing I was having a baby, I dunno how you'd act, but I would hope you'd be proud"

"Rouge?" then Knuckles brought her back down to earth, "Rouge?" Rouge turned to look at him, he was pointing towards a male seagull who was selling ice-cream under a tree. "You wanna have an ice-cream?" he asked. "Oh" said Rouge, "yes please" Knuckles smiled and walked over to the seagull, he then bought two chocolate and vanilla swirls for them both.

"Seems appropriate eh?" chuckled Knuckles as he licked his ice-cream, "a hot baking day and a large creamy ice-cream each?" Rouge smiled "sure is" she said as she licked her ice-cream "thank you Knuckles" she walked along with him and licked her ice-cream, Knuckles began to walk closer to her, as he did, Rouge felt a little uncomfortable, but she smiled anyway.

After a while, they came to the Mobotropolis Park Café, as they walked over, Rouge saw many families, they seemed to be making use of the lovely weather, there were a couple of Mobians sitting on an outside table with a pram whilst two older children were playing tag.

Another couple were sitting nearby; the father was feeding a toddler in a high chair whilst the mother was cradling a newborn in her arms. Rouge again began to think about her baby growing inside her and wondered what life would be like without Shadow, that was if he was dead.

"Even thought my brain tells me you're gone, my heart is telling me you're still out there, still alive, maybe trying to find a way back to us, back to Mobius, back to Mobotropolis, back to me" she looked across to Knuckles who was looking for a free table. "If Shadow really is gone…" she bit her lip at those words that came from her head "maybe Knuckles could help? Maybe he could take care of me, and the baby?"

"Here's a table" said Knuckles, pointing to a table where there were some roses growing on a fence next to it. Rouge smiled and walked over, Knuckles then picked up the menus and handed Rouge one. "What do you fancy?" he asked. Rouge scanned down the menu and decided to have a chicken salad. Knuckles nodded at her and went inside the café leaving Rouge with her thoughts about Shadow.

**Poor Rouge, pregnant, depressed and with mixed feelings...and will she tell someone soon? Find out!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

**Rouge Reveals**

As the weeks went by, Rouge tried to carry on with her life, she enjoyed going out to Restaurants or going on walks with Knuckles, yet she was still reluctant to his signs of affection, she still couldn't stop thinking about Shadow, and her signs of pregnancy were getting more and more obvious.

Her breasts were getting very swollen and were quite tender, and she had started feeling ill in the mornings, she sometimes had to get up several times during the night because she felt so nauseas. She had checked the date from when she had slept with Shadow, and it was almost three months.

Rouge had also bought a book on pregnancy and it became her bible, telling her what sort of food to eat whilst pregnant, and also what to expect, her bump hadn't quite yet shown, yet she knew it would soon be obvious and she would have to tell people soon.

"But how will they act?" she wondered, "and who can I talk to?" she thought about Knuckles, but then wondered what he would think. "Shadow and Knuckles were never particularly warm to each other, and he may get angry" he knew Knuckles had a temper. Maybe even more than Shadow.

"Amy?" she thought "no…" she whispered "not Amy, she'll get over excited and knowing her, it'll be around the whole Sonic Team, or even the whole of Mobotropolis!" She thought again. "Vanilla!" she thought "Cream's mother! If I know her, she may be able to help, having brought up Cream by herself"

Later that afternoon, Rouge walked to Cream and Vanilla's house, she could see Cream and Cheese playing in the garden, the young rabbit was chasing Cheese round playing tag and Cheese was making happy little Chao noises.

Rouge then walked to the gate, as she did, Cream saw her, "Hi Miss Rouge" she said in a cute little voice "hi Cream" said Rouge smiling at her "is your mum at home" "Sure" said Cream, she opened the gate and lead Rouge to the front door, she then lead her to the living room where Vanilla was reading in a large red armchair.

"Mother" said Cream "Rouge is here" Vanilla looked up from her book, "Oh hello there" she said standing up and walking over to Rouge, "Hi Vanilla" said Rouge "Erm…Vanilla? Is there a chance I can chat to you? In private?" "Of course" smiled Vanilla, she nodded at Cream and Cream went back outside with Cheese "go sit down, do you want a cup of tea?".

Rouge nodded "please" Vanilla smiled then lead Rouge over to the sofa then went to prepare some tea. She soon returned with two mugs of tea, then placed them on the wooden coffee table before sitting with her "Ok Rouge" said Vanilla, "What can I help you with?"

Rouge bit her lip "I don't know how to say this" she said "but since we got back from saving the galaxy, I've been feeling signs" "Signs?" asked Vanilla confused. Rouge didn't mince her words, "after research, it turns out…I'm with child…." Vanilla's eyes widened "I'm pregnant" said Rouge.

Vanilla stared at Rouge for a long time, "you serious?" she asked, Rouge nodded, "I'm sure" she said "I took a pregnancy test and it's 100" Vanilla then looked worried, "whose the baby's father?" she asked. Rouge was silent for a moment. "Whose the father?" Vanilla asked again.

"Shadow" whispered Rouge "what?" asked Vanilla lifting her long ear so she could hear better, "Shadow the Hedgehog" said Rouge, Vanilla's eyes widened. "Shadow!" she exclaimed, "How do you know…?" "Because we made love on Eggman's ship before we caught up with the Sonic Team to fight the Metarex…."

After a wordy explanation, Vanilla stared at Rouge as she poured out her woes of how much she missed Shadow and how she wanted to keep her baby, but she felt scared as she didn't know what to do.

"I'll help you" offered Vanilla "I'll help you during your pregnancy, I'll help you understand about them, after all, I've had experience, looking after Cream all these years as a single mum" Rouge felt tears of relief in her eyes "you'll really do that?" she asked "of course" said Vanilla. Rouge then hugged the rabbit "oh thanks Vanilla" she said, Vanilla smiled and hugged her back.

**So Rouge has told Vanilla...at least someone knows XD**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

**Getting help from a friend**

Over the next few days, Rouge would be a regular visitor to Cream and Vanilla's house, she would go over and Vanilla would talk to her about children, she even showed her pictures of Cream as a baby.

"I must say I was lucky when I had Cream" said Vanilla "when she was born, she was such a beautiful baby, and sounded like one" Rouge looked confused, "how?" she asked. "Well, she never cried" said Vanilla, "unless she needed to be changed, or she was hungry, and she was a heavy sleeper, she would only wake up if she had to have her nappy changed"

Rouge looked down at her stomach, "I don't know what my child may be like" she whispered "I just hope she…he…comes out healthy" she then looked sad "it's the only precious one I have left of Shadow, if only we know each other sooner, and knew how we felt"

Vanilla stroked Rouge's hand comfortingly, "Don't worry Rouge" she said "you know we're all here for you" Rouge smiled weakly "and also, you told me about Knuckles being so kind to you and all, I'm sure he'd look after you" "I suppose" said Rouge, a little unsure "but every time I'm with him" she said "I feel…guilty"

"Why?" asked Vanilla "because, I feel like I'm betraying Shadow…I'm carrying his baby…he's the one I lost my virginity to…." "I know you feel like that Rouge" said Vanilla "but I'm sure Shadow wouldn't want you getting all upset over his death, he'd want you to be happy"

Rouge nodded, "I…I guess" she wrung her hands, Vanilla continued to stroke her hand, "come now" she said "lets get started" Rouge looked at her and nodded. Vanilla then began to talk about the first signs of early pregnancy, as she talked, Rouge would nod and say she had had them.

"I've started having cravings for certain foods, such as strangely enough, pancake mix" Vanilla stared at Rouge then mentioned she had a craving for sugar and sweet things to which Rouge replied "no wonder young Creams such a sweetie" making Vanilla blush and giggle.

"what other of the signs I've mentioned have you had?" asked Vanilla, Rouge thought for a moment "Darkening of the nipples" she said running her finger along the front of her huge breast "I have had to use the bathroom quite a bit" Vanilla nodded, "but I also do know that I missed a period…that's why I took the test and found out"

Vanilla nodded "well, if that confirms your pregnancy" she said "then you sure are pregnant" Rouge nodded, "I feel happy, and scared at the same time" she said "I feel so happy I'm having a baby…but also I feel scared" "of being alone?" asked Vanilla. Rouge nodded "yeah"

"Don't worry" said Vanilla "I'll make sure you're ok, through your pregnancy, I'll make sure you know what you need to know" Rouge smiled. "Thanks Vanilla" she said "what would I do without you" Vanilla winked. Rouge then looked around the room at all the photographs of Vanilla, Cream and Cheese.

"What is it like?" she asked "having a child?" she looked out the window to where Cream was swinging on her swing with Cheese on her lap making happy Chao squeals as they swung to and fro. Vanilla chuckled "it's never easy" she said "even though Cream was an angel, it still was difficult, nappies, baby food, all that stuff" Rouge nodded "I guess" "but it was such a blessing in a way, I loved dressing her up in tiny dresses and bathing her, I felt so proud and happy to be a mum"

Rouge smiled and stroked her stomach, "if I have a baby girl" she whispered "it will be fun to dress her up in pretty dresses, if I have a girl, I may call her Maria, or Mariah….Shadow would have loved that name for a daughter, especially after his first love and best friend Maria" "that's a pretty name" said Vanilla.

"But what if it's a boy" Rouge smiled "he'll be as handsome and as strong as his daddy…." She said, a tear appearing in her eye as she thought of Shadow. "I don't know about what name yet….but I'll think of something" "I'm sure you will" said Vanilla. Rouge then smiled at her stomach again.

**Awww, so wonderful Vanilla's being so helpful.**


	12. Chapter 12

****

Chapter Twelve

**Grieving**

A few days later Rouge sat in her living room, she had the low lighting on and was staring out of the widow at the moon and stars that shone brightly as she was listening to the radio on her HI FI.

"Shadow…" she whispered "if only you were still here….this is such a happy moment…yet so sad…as I'm so lonely without you" As she was lost in her thoughts, the DJ on the radio began to announce the next song. "…and now a song for those who dream of love…it's 'Dreaming of You'" Rouge turned to the HI FI and sighed as the song played.

_**Late at night when all the world is sleeping  
I'd stay up and think of you  
And I'd wish on a star  
That somewhere you are thinking of me too  
**_

As she listened, she felt tears come to her eyes, she had been wishing, even praying that Shadow would one day come back to her. She even wondered whether Shadow was thinking about her, if he was still alive and whether he was trying desperately to come back to her.

_**Cuz I'm dreaming of you tonight  
Till tomorrow, I'll be holding you tight  
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be  
Then here in my room,  
Dreaming about you and me**_

**_Wonder if you even see me  
And I wonder if you know I'm there  
If you looked in my eyes  
Would you see what's inside?  
Would you even care?_**

**_I just wanna hold you close  
But so far, all I have are dreams of you  
So, I wait for the day and the courage to say  
How much I love you(Yes, I do)_**

**_I'll be dreaming of you tonight  
Till tomorrow, I'll be holding you tight  
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be  
Then here in my room,  
Dreaming about you and me_**

**_Ahhh...I can't stop dreaming of you  
Ahhh...I can't stop dreaming_**

**_Late at night when all the world is sleeping  
I'd stay up and think of you  
And I still can't believe that you came up to me  
And said, "I love you; I love you too"_**

**_Now I'm dreaming with you tonight  
Till tomorrow, and for all of my life  
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be  
Then here in my room,  
Dreaming with you endlessly..._**

As the song ended Rouge ran a hand over her stomach, as she did, she smiled through her tears as she felt her stomach was a little big bigger, she had noticed she had put on some weight and her trousers were getting tighter. "I'll take care of you my child" she whispered, "I promise, everything will be ok, just be healthy, and well, you're all I have left of Shadow…please be ok…."

**Hey again people! I just felt like writing a chap with Rouge remembering her love. Hope you like!**

**_'Dreaming of you'_ by Selena Quintanilla-Pérez**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Plans**

At Sonic's house one afternoon, Knuckles, Amy, Tails, Cream, Cheese, Big, Froggie and the Chaotix were sitting in Sonic's front room. Sonic was checking to see if everyone was present.

"Where's Rouge?" he asked, looking around to see if he could find the white bat, "resting" said Cream, "Resting?" asked Sonic "what is it with that bat?" "She's still grieving Sonic" said Amy, "she's still upset over Shadow" "she talks about him a lot when we go out" said Knuckles in a low voice. Amy glared at Knuckles.

"She's as upset about him as we are about Chris?" asked Sonic, Amy nodded "they were partners" she said "and they did work together a lot" Knuckles nodded grudgingly. "Fine" said Sonic "anyway, moving on…I still can't get over the way Eggman murdered Chris so brutally…."

Everyone looked at each other and nodded "how could he?" said Cream, "I don't know" said Sonic "but I have decided…he will pay for what he did…" Amy looked a little worried "you sound just like Shadow" she whispered. Sonic looked up, his green eyes burning.

"I know exactly how that hedgehog felt, when he lost the one person so dear to him, Maria, I can feel his pain, and Eggman will pay for his crime…." Amy looked up at Sonic worried. "How…?" she asked "how will we make him pay" Sonic looked at Amy, "we shall go to Eggman's base….we'll perform a surprise attack"

"A Surprise attack?" asked Knuckles "on Eggman?" "Yes" said Sonic "we'll attack his base as he sleeps!" "I plan that we place bombs around the base, then we blow the place to pieces! Blow him to smithereens!" Everyone gasped "Bombs!" cried Cream "but bombs are dangerous!"

"I know that Cream!" snarled Sonic "but that's what he did to Chris! And he shall suffer the same fate!" "As well as his robotic creations" said Tails, Sonic then looked across to Tails. "Tails" he said "you and Charmy will make the bombs, and make them good, we need at least a hundred so we can place them all over the base!"

"You got it" said Tails, "aye aye!" squealed Charmy "we shall make those bombs! And make them good and powerful! The base will be a crumble of ashes!" "It's exactly what I want to see" said Sonic. He then looked at the team who still continued to look up at him in worry.

"Chris was a good friend to us!" said Sonic "to all those who met him, he helped us fight, he helped protect his planet when the ARK was about to destroy it….he even helped us protect and save our planet as well as the galaxy when we fought the Metarex" everyone nodded in agreement.

"he was so brave" said Amy, Cream nodded "remember those times we had fun, even though Eggman would spoil it, we still had a lot of fun" Sonic nodded "and we won't let Chris's death go un-avenged, he was murdered, he may have died naïve and not knowing what was coming, but he died a hero! And he always was a hero!"

Everyone agreed, "and we will make sure he gets justice!" said Sonic "Eggman shall die! And he shall suffer for his crime!" Everyone nodded "he will regret the day he knew the Sonic Team!" Everyone then shouted in agreement.

**Sorry, again another short chapter, but the next one will be longer, I promise, I'm suffering from the block a bit, so I'm forcing myself to write. But hopefully I'll get more ideas! LOL! Enjoy!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Visions**

That Evening at Vanilla's house, Rouge sat at Vanilla's dining table having dinner with them. Cream was happily eating her dinner, whilst Cheese was nibbling at his from his little plate.

Rouge looked at her plate that consisted of chicken, lentils, spinach and new potatoes; she also had a glass of water. "You're very kind Vanilla" she said. Vanilla smiled, "it's very high in iron" said Vanilla "and you need iron to help your baby grow healthily"

Cream was grinning from ear to ear "I can't wait till your baby comes Miss Rouge" she smiled "Chao Chao!" squealed Cheese. "Can I come and see him/her when it's born?" Rouge nodded "you may" she said "and can I play with him/her?" asked Cream.

"Calm down honey" said Vanilla "it's still too early" Cram blushed and smiled. Rouge grinned, "how you feeling about Shadow?" asked Vanilla, changing the subject. "I still feel sad" said Rouge, "even though my brain is telling me Shadow's dead, in my heart, he's still alive, he escaped death once, but then…he came back…and I've never given up hope that one day he'll return to me"

"Do you think he'll come back?" asked Cream, "I don't know" said Vanilla, Rouge sighed "he was so brave…he saved all our lives, and the planet, but he never returned…." Vanilla nodded. "But think about your child Rouge" she said "think about the baby" Rouge nodded.

Later that evening Rouge lay in her bed and stared at the ceiling, as she stared, she began to think more about Shadow, "I wish you were here" she whispered "I wish you were next to me, stroking my stomach and nuzzling me…talking to our unborn child and whispering how happy you were….if only you were here….if only….if only you had come back….." as she was laying there thinking her thoughts, she began to feel sleepy, she soon drifted into a deep sleep, Shadow's name still going around in her head.

Her sleep didn't last long, as her vision began to turn white and she could hear her own voice in her ears, "Shadow…..Shadow" the whiteness then began to fade and she began to find herself somewhere, it looked like a rocky canyon like desert, which a red and pink sky above.

"No" she thought "it can't be…can it?" she looked around, the area was so rocky and the sandy rocks almost cracked under her feet, she then realised, she was back on Molly's planet! All those months ago, when they were fighting the Metarex. She looked around more, then saw a figure standing looking at a cliff in front of a bit of metal sticking out of the ground.

As she walked closer, she saw it was a black hedgehog with red quills! "Shadow!" she ran over, holding her stomach with one hand, "Shadow!" she ran over and placed her hand on his shoulder. As she did, Shadow turned around. "Rouge..?" he whispered "Shadow!" cried Rouge as she threw her arms around him, "please tell me I'm not dreaming…tell me you're still alive!"

Shadow wrapped his hands around her waist and held her close, "Rouge…" he whispered "I am still alive….despite what the other's think….I'm still here…Knuckles is lying" Rouge took her tear stained face away from Shadow's shoulder and looked up at him "wh...What!" "Despite what the others have been saying…" Shadow whispered "I'm still alive"

"But…." Sobbed Rouge "I saw you…you performed Chaos Control and make that exploding planet get away from us…." "I know" said Shadow stroking his fingers through her hair "I know…but I survived….I'm here…on Molly's planet" "What!" cried Rouge "but why didn't you come back to us? Why!" she threw herself against him, sobbing her heart out.

"I couldn't do it" whispered Shadow "I had done my duty…and I tried to chaos control back, but I was thrown into space by the explosion…..then I blacked out…." He then lifted her hand and placed it on his shoulder where a deep scar was visible, then another above his eye and behind his ear.

"These scars are from the debris of the planet, all I remember was the flash as the planet exploded, then all went black….when I came round….I found myself here….the survivors of Molly's people had found me and brought me back here….they refuse to let me leave"

"Shadow…" sobbed Rouge, "why won't they let you…? I know you're strong….you can get away from them…." Shadow opened his mouth to speak, but he suddenly began to fade. "Shadow!" cried Rouge "don't leave me!" Shadow's face looked pained, "I'm being pulled from my dream…" he chocked, "I've never stopped dreaming of you! I want to be with you…and the baby!"

Rouge then suddenly felt herself being pulled from her dream "Shadow!" she cried "please! Come back to me!" she began to cry again as she felt herself being pulled away. "SHADOW!" she clawed the air as she heard Shadow's fading voice whispering to her…..

Rouge awoke with a start, her body was drenched in sweat and her eyes were stinging from crying tears. She got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, hoping the cool air would calm her.

She stood still in the dark bathroom; the only light that lit up the house was the full moon shining through the window. "Shadow…." She whispered "You're still alive….please tell me my dream was true….it was too real to be a dream….I saw us on Molly's planet….it's got to be true….Shadow…..you've got to be alive!"

**My God....but was it just a dream? or a vison? Is Shadow still alive?**

**But now....what will Rouge do?**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Preparing to Tell**

As the weeks went by, Rouge's stomach began to expand as her baby got bigger, she then began to feel the baby moving about, she was over halfway through her pregnancy. Since that vision she had, she had began having more visions, many of her encountering Shadow and him saying he was trying to come back to her, but the people on Molly's planet wouldn't let him leave.

During the time her stomach got bigger, she began to wear loose clothing and not wear anything tight so that it wasn't obvious that she was pregnant and also so she would feel comfortable. She always felt tired as it was exhausting carrying a heavy weight inside her all the time. So she usually stayed at home, she had stopped going out with Knuckles for a while because she felt so tired, she simply told him she was still feeling fragile over Shadow's death.

Even though she was over halfway through her pregnancy, she hadn't told everyone about it and she realised that everyone would start getting suspicious. As she sat on the sofa stroking her stomach at Vanilla's house, she wondered how she was going to the others that she was pregnant, they must have guessed by now.

As she was wondering Vanilla came in with some lemon tea, Rouge smiled and took the tea, "it's getting obvious now" said Vanilla as she looked at Rouge's swollen stomach. Rouge nodded. "Believe it or not" she said "Knuckles has never noticed my bump" Vanilla looked surprised "I never thought he such an idiot" said Rouge.

Vanilla sat next to Rouge, "do you still think he'd take care of you?" she asked, Rouge sighed "I dunno" she said "he's ok, but he's not like Shadow….I can remember some things that Knuckles did which made me wonder if he was right for me" Vanilla looked at Rouge.

"He does have a short temper" Rouge said "Shadow was aggressive, but he was calmer, and he never laid a finger on me…." She began to think back when Knuckles had punched her in the face and she had almost fallen to her death from a bridge when he did that, even though he saved her, she was angry he had hit her in the first place.

"I'm going to tell them" said Rouge "I will let them know" she stood up, "I can't keep this hidden, in a few months my child will be born….the Sonic Team will need to know" Vanilla smiled "Good luck Rouge" she said. Rouge smiled and began to walk out the door; she knew that the Sonic Team were holding another meeting about planning an attack on Eggman.

She wanted to tell them about the pregnancy, yet she didn't know whether to tell them about her visions, "I know in my heart Shadow is alive….I just know it….but the others will think I'm insane….they'll never believe it…." She walked on holding her stomach.

At Tail's workshop, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Cream and Amy were talking about their planned attack; they were coming near the end of their meeting. "So we'll plant these bombs around the base, every door and window, and also near the oil and gas place, make sure the place gets blasted to pieces" said Sonic.

"You got it!" said Knuckles, Tails then placed some home made bombs on the wooden table in front of him, "I've got the bombs prepared" said Tails. "I have more in the trucks at the back of the shed; they each have a timer, so when we plant the bombs, we'll agree how much time we'll need to set them so everyone can get out of the place" "Agreed" said everyone.

As Tails was packing away the bombs Knuckles stretched, "I better get back to Angel Island" he said "Make sure the Master Emerald is ok" Sonic and Tails scoffed "scared that Rouge will take the pieces?" asked Sonic "After what happened whilst we were in space?" Knuckles snarled "for your information, Rouge hasn't left her apartment for a while; she's never teased me once!"

"Still upset about Shadow?" asked Amy "yeah I guess" said Knuckles, "I think theres more than just missing Shadow" said Tails, "she's been so withdrawn" "I believe that" said Amy. Knuckles just shrugged and walked out of the shed. As he did, the others looked at each other and shrugged.

Meanwhile Rouge was walking towards Tails's workshop, she knew the team would be having their meeting; she looked down at her stomach which she had covered under her baggy clothes, "will they understand?" she thought as she walked. As she got closer she began to practice what she was going to say to them yet kept stammering.

As soon as she got outside Tail's apartment, Sonic, Tails and Amy walked out of the workshop, "So anyone fancy pizza?" asked Tails "you bet!" said Sonic "yes plea…." Amy began until she saw Rouge walking towards them, pale and worried. "Rouge!" she cried "where have you been?" she ran up and placed her hands on the bat's shoulders.

"So where have you been hiding?" asked Sonic, Rouge bit her lip and looked at the floor, "what's wrong?" asked Amy "are you still thinking about Shadow after all these months?" Rouge looked at Amy and a couple of tears fell. "Rouge?" asked Amy stroking her cheek wiping the tears away.

"I need to tell you something" Rouge whispered. "What is it?" asked Sonic, "come inside Rouge" said Tails, gesturing everyone to come into his house. Amy wrapped her arm around Rouge's shoulder and led her into the house. As soon as they got in Amy and Rouge sat on the sofas and Tails went to get everyone some drinks, Sonic went to help him.

When tails and Sonic had come back with hot chocolate, they all sat together on the sofas, "we have been worried about you Rouge, being so withdrawn since the battle with the Metarex" said Sonic "yeah" said Amy, "we understand you're still grieving" Rouge looked up at them.

"It's not that" she said, "then what?" asked Tails, Rouge bit her lip, then took off her baggy coat, revealing her swollen stomach. Everyone stared at her in shock, "you're not…?" asked Amy, "I think she is!" said Tails, Sonic stared at her, "oh my….oh my er…." He then collapsed in a dead faint on the floor.

"Oh Sonic!" cried Amy, running over to Sonic and starting to fan him with a magazine from Tails's coffee table. "Sonic!" cried Tails, "speak to me! Speak to me!" Rouge stared at the unconscious blue hedgehog, "what's wrong with him?" she asked "he alright?"

Tails looked up "he's just fainted" he said, Rouge frowned "I wonder if Knuckles will react in the same way?" she thought "I hope not". Sonic then opened his eyes, "Sonic!" said Amy "you ok?" "Yeah, yeah I'm fine" said Sonic sitting up. Amy sighed with relief then sat next to Rouge.

"You're pregnant!" she asked "how? Who's the father?" Rouge looked up at them, "only one person" she said "Shadow" "WHAT!" everyone cried "when did this happen?" asked Sonic. Rouge then explained to them again about when they were on Eggman's ship and how they had made love thus conceiving the child she was carrying.

"I knew there was something between them" Sonic thought, Amy rubbed Rouge's shoulders as she explained how she was missing Shadow so much and how her baby was all she had left of him and that she was scared of being alone. "Knuckles has been kind to you though" said Amy "he's taken you out on dates, and been really caring, he could help you with the baby"

"I don't think so Amy" said Sonic "I know that Knuckle-head pretty well! He's all fists and no brains! They don't suit!" Rouge sighed as Amy gave Sonic a glare. "I worry about Knuckles though, I haven't told him about my pregnancy at all" said Rouge "I'm worried how he'll react"

"I'm sure he'll be fine Rouge" said Amy "I bet he'll want to take care of you and love you and the child" Rouge sighed again "Knuckles has been so kind" she thought "Amy's right, but I don't love him" "you should tell Knuckles about the child Rouge" said Amy, "I'm sure he'll want to take care of you"

Rouge sighed, "she's right Rouge" said Tails, "you're gonna have to get over Shadow, and move on" Rouge felt tears prickling her eyes, but she tried to hold them back. "Ok" she whispered "I'll meet up with Knuckles and tell him, then see what happens" Amy smiled, "that's the ticket Rouge" she smiled.

**So....Rouge has finally told the team! But now she's got to tell Knuckles and how will he act?**

**Find out in the next chap!**

**Love Bloodrayne666**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Truth or Fake Vision?**

The next day Rouge decided to pluck up the courage to go and tell Knuckles about her pregnancy, she was worried, yet she knew he would have to know, "I just hope he takes it well" she thought, she stood in front of her mirror and ran her fingers through her hair.

As she did, she felt the baby give a hard kick inside "awww little one" she whispered "you nervous too?" the baby then moved about, Rouge stroked her stomach "Shhh Shhh" she said "it'll be ok….I hope" she turned from the mirror and walked downstairs to find her phone.

Biting her lip with nerves, she began to dial Knuckles's number, she then put her phone to her ear as it began to ring, "no…." she whispered "don't pick up….don't pick up" just then Knuckles's voice was heard. "Knuckles?" whispered Rouge "oh…hey Rouge" said Knuckles.

"Can you meet me?" she asked, "sure" said Knuckles "when?" "This afternoon" said Rouge, "at the park café? I need to talk to you" "sure thing" said Knuckles "see you there about three?" Rouge agreed "ok" she said "see you about three" she hung up then went to sit on her sofa, she had a couple of hours so she decided to rest a little, she had become very tired carrying her baby inside her.

As she stroked her stomach, she stared at the ceiling, thinking again about Shadow, all these visions she had been having, they were all too real, far too real to be dreams. She rested her head back and began to close her eyes; it wasn't long before she drifted off to sleep.

As soon as she fell asleep, she began to dream again, her black vision began to develop, she then began to hear voices, she then found herself in a black corridor, "No…" she whispered as she looked around "it can't be…" she then saw some people walking around in uniforms.

"I'm on Molly's planet!" she thought, "but if I'm here…." She then realised "Shadow!" she then saw some men walking down the corridor towards her, one was a tall man with brown hair and the other was a bearded blonde man. "I wonder how it's doing?" said the brown haired man, "who?" asked the blonde, "the black and red hedgehog" "oh that" said the blonde man "growing more and more insane everyday and angry"

"Told you he was dangerous" commented the other guy "the gov' says that the hedgehog should be kept for further tests" "Good thing too, especially as he caused the death of young Molly" Rouge's eyes went wide "what!" she cried "now dare they!" She ran after them, "hey!" she said "where is he!" she ran alongside them shouting "how dare you! He's a hero not a murderer"

But even though she was shouting her head off at them, they didn't seem to notice her, "shit!" she thought, she tried grabbing a sleeve, but each time she tried, her hand went through the arm of the man. "Fuck" she thought, "they can't see or hear me…" she followed them as they walked down talking.

Rouge kept on following them until they got to a large door with the sounds of someone screaming and shouting in agony and anger. Rouge recognised the voice immediately, "Shadow" she felt devastation and anger rise in her chest. The brown haired man then typed in a password and the door opened. Rouge quickly followed them inside. As soon as she got in, the sight she saw broke her heart.

There was Shadow on his hands and knees breathless from screaming and cursing, his soft velvet black fur was matted and dirty and bruised and even stained with blood. "Oh Shadow" she whispered as tears flowed from her eyes "what have those bastards done to you…?" she looked up at two men on their side of him holding two wooden canes that they had been battering him with.

Shadow lifted his head and looked up at the two men, his face was all twisted up in angry and pain, "still hanging on eh creature?" asked one of the men mockingly. Shadow glared at him. "Fuck you" he spat. As he said that one of the men with the canes hit him on the back making him fall flat on his face.

Rouge felt like running over and slapping him, but she couldn't as she was invisible to them. "You know you deserve this hedgehog" said one of the men, "you lead Molly to her death, and that is unforgivable" "I did not kill her" snarled Shadow, "I helped her fight those monsters! I helped her!"

"Shut up!" said the brown haired man, he kicked some dust into Shadow's face, "you caused her death and now you're gonna pay for what you did" Shadow looked up, "haven't you made me suffer enough?" he gasped, "all these months of endless torture, being a guinea pig for your…experiments….kick me around like a plaything…" he spat on the floor, showing blood mixed with thick saliva.

"No" said the brown haired man "you're gonna be use to us one day, with those powers you have, you will be our greatest weapon" Shadow bowed his head broken "all this time" he choked "I have only bee seen as a weapon, not a creature with feelings" he clenched his fists and punched the floor.

Seeing Shadow so angry made Rouge's heart burst, "No…Shadow" she felt her tears fall, then she looked up at the men torturing him and jeering at him, "You bastards!" she screamed loudly "you fucking bastards!" as she screamed the image around her faded and she found herself back in her living room.

"Oh God…." She thought, she stood up and wiped the sweat from her forehead, "Shadow…" she whispered "so that's what they were doing to you….that's why they won't let you leave….they're torturing you!" she then looked at the clock, "shit" she thought "I have to meet Knuckles in half an hour"

She quickly found her coat and pulled it around her shoulders, she then ran her fingers through her hair and walked out of the door, as she walked, she felt the baby give a couple of kicks. "Shhh, Shhh I know" she whispered, she then began to walk faster hoping to meet Knuckles in time, as she walked, she thought again about the vision she had, "it seemed so real, too real" she thought "but what if I was just a dream, no…it can't be…."

**Those evil men! Hurting Shadow! Poor Shadow, again seen as a weopon, not a living creature with feelings,**

**But now....Rouge has to go to Knuckles, sorry readers, I was gonna have the Knuckles scene here, but I thought of putting this vison in, but we'll see Knuckles's in the next chapter! Enjoy!**

**Love Bloodrayne666**


	17. Chapter 17

**WARNING: Contains threat.**

**Chapter Seventeen**

**Fatal Impatience**

When Rouge met Knuckles he was standing outside the park café, he had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot. Rouge ran up to meet him, "Knuckles" she called, Knuckles turned to face her "hey Rouge" he said.

Rouge bit her lip, how was he going to take this? She took a deep breath, they were in a public place so she knew he would have to control his temper if he got angry. Knuckles smiled "where have you been all this time, keeping distant?" he asked in flirtatious tone, Rouge felt a little uncomfortable.

"Well" she said, sitting at a table, "I have still been feeling fragile over Shadow's disappearance, but there's more to it than that" "What?" asked Knuckles "what do you mean?" Rouge felt her heart beating harder, she slowly unbuttoned her coat, "I'm not just grieved at Shadow's disappearance…" she whispered as she unbuttoned her coat more showing her swollen stomach "I'm pregnant by him…I'm having his baby"

Knuckles's jaw dropped, "What!" he cried "you mean…" Rouge nodded, she began to feel worried as people were staring to stare, Knuckles then saw people were staring at him and controlled himself. "I had sex with him when we were on Eggman's ship, just before the final battle against the Metarex"

"Why didn't you say anything before?" asked Knuckles, "I don't know" said Rouge, "I just felt scared….I told Vanilla about it as she has a child, young Cream, and she encouraged me to tell Sonic and the others about it" Knuckles looked at her swollen stomach.

"How far are you?" he asked, "about seven months and a half" said Rouge, she stroked her stomach and looked up at Knuckles. "Rouge" said Knuckles "why don't we have a proper talk about it? Like tonight at my house on Angel Island?" Rouge's eyes widened, "I wonder what he's asking?" she wondered "he seems to have taken it well"

"Come to my house Rouge" said Knuckles, "and we'll talk more" Rouge looked up at him; she began to have a funny feeling about him, why was he acting this way? There was something in his eyes. It made her feel wary. "I'll make us dinner and we'll talk"

Rouge thought for a moment "ok" she said "sure" Knuckles smiled, "cool" he said, "I'll get us some drinks" he then stood up and walked to the counter of the café, as he did, Rouge watched him get a cup of coffee for himself and a cup of tea for her. "I wonder what he's planning?" she thought.

***

Later that evening Rouge flew to Angel Island, she was wearing her long black coat and kept her head hooded to keep out the cold. She then saw a light from a house next to the Master Emerald. The Master Emerald was still shattered from their battle with the Metarex in space; still the pieces glittered brightly in the moonlight.

She walked up to the door and tapped it, as she did, Knuckles came to the door and let her in. "Hey Rouge" he said leading her to the living room, Rouge smiled at the echidna as he lead her to a brown sofa and let her sit down. She looked at the way he was dressed, he was wearing the brown suit ha had worn on their dates. "This is kind of you Knuckles" she said. "Don't mention it" smiled Knuckles.

Rouge sat down on the sofa, she was tired again after flying from Mobotropolis all the way to Angel Island, Knuckles then walked into the kitchen and came back with tea and coffee. He then sat next to her. "So how is the child?" he asked, Rouge stroked her stomach and whispered "I think it's ok, I still haven't thought of names, but I feel comforted knowing I have a child in me, and they'll be what I have left of Shadow"

As she talked, she felt Knuckles's large paw on her knee, she looked up and saw him leaning quite close to her, "Knuckles?" she asked a little startled. Knuckles smirked; Rouge then began to feel a bit scared, "don't you think you've kept me waiting long enough?" he asked in a flirty tone.

"What?" asked Rouge "oh come on Rouge" said Knuckles, "all these dates we've been on, those wonderful nights we had together, isn't it about time you returned the favour?" Rouge got a little frightened, "what are you saying?" she asked trying to move away from him.

Knuckles squeezed her leg and began to move so he was almost on top of her, "I've been taking you on these dates, and you haven't properly thanked me" "What?" cried Rouge "I thought…." "Thought what?" said Knuckles, his voice began to get aggressive "what do you think I brought you here for? To talk?!?"

Rouge was shocked, "I should go..." she said trying to get off the sofa "no!" said Knuckles "sit still!" Rouge pushed him off and began to walk towards the door, but Knuckles jumped up. "God dammit!" he shouted, he grabbed Rouge and pushed her to the ground.

Rouge cried out in fear as Knuckled pulled her black dress up and began to pull down her knickers, "Knuckles!" she cried "No please!" "Lay still!" shouted Knuckles; he began to unzip his trousers, Rouge struggled more as Knuckles tried to hold her down. Rouge screamed again, then used her knee to hit Knuckles in the balls.

Knuckles cried out in agony and let go, Rouge then crawled out and flung open the door, she then clutched her stomach and ran as fast as she could towards the edge of Angel Island. She could hear Knuckles's voice shouting after her "ROUGE!" Rouge kept on running, she felt so frightened.

She then reached the edge of Angel Island and jumped off opening her wings to fly, she kept on flying and soared towards Mobotropolis, she then saw her apartment, she landed and opened the door, as soon as she got in, she locked the door and ran to her bed. She collapsed on it and began to cry.

She couldn't believe that Knuckles had tried to rape her, she thought he was being kind and comforting to her, but he had only been trying to get her into bed, she sobbed and sobbed, "Oh Shadow" she whispered "I wish you were here" she sobbed harder into her pillow until she fell asleep.

**That horrible Knuckles! He could have hurt the baby!**

**Let me know what you think!**

**Love Bloodrayne666**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

**Broken**

The next day, Rouge lay in her bed staring at the ceiling; she couldn't believe that Knuckles had tried to rape her; she had been up half the night crying and having nightmares of Knuckles coming towards her to hurt her.

"How could he?" she whispered "how could he?" she rolled onto her side, she could feel her baby moving around and kicking, "shhh shhh" she whispered "its ok baby" she whispered "you're safe, you're safe with me" she stroked her stomach and closed her eyes, singing softly to the baby.

As she sang, she closed her eyes again, she felt so tired from having nightmares and crying, stroking her stomach to calm her baby soothed her. As she slipped into a deep sleep, she saw images form and a voice began calling her. "Rouge…Rouge" Rouge opened her eyes to see herself standing in a dark room with a light coming in from a window, the light of the moon.

"Shadow!" she thought, she looked around and saw in the corner of the room a black hedgehog sitting in the corner just within the light of the moon, he had his head down and his knees pulled fully up to his chest. As she walked closer, she could see he had tears shining on his face from crying.

"Shadow…" she whispered in a heartbroken voice, "what have they done to you…?" she looked at him, the black hedgehog she knew, no longer standing strong and tall, fresh and fearless, but more like a cowered frightened child, a prisoner of war. His shiny black fur was all dirty and bloody, bruises covered his lean strong body, his quills were drooping and his eyes were red with the tears he had cried through torture and devastation.

Rouge walked over and knelt in front of him, Shadow then looked up, showing more scars, like his ear than was half missing, and his scar above his eye from the Metarex battle. "How could they accuse me of leading you to your death Molly? All I did was try to help, I saved you and Rouge from many dangers when we were fighting the Metarex together"

Tears then fell from his eyes "those monsters killed you, and I failed to save you from them…yet these bastards….your people….accuse me of killing you….I never wanted you to die….I was by your side the whole time…." He grasped his legs and cried harder into his knees.

Rouge felt so heartbroken, she wanted to hold him, but she couldn't, she was invisible to him, she cried more watching as Shadow sat there, broken and tortured. As she cried, she felt the scene around her fade as she was pulled away from her dream. She then opened her eyes again to find herself back in her bedroom.

Rouge sat up in shock, she was drenched in sweat and the baby was kicking again inside her, "shhh shhh" she whispered "mommy had a nightmare" she lay back on the bed and tried to get her breath back. "I better see Vanilla later about this" she said. "I need someone to talk to"

Later Rouge walked on to Vanilla's house, she held her stomach and wrapped her coat tighter around herself, and she walked through the park then made her way to Vanilla and Cream's house.

When she got there, she could see Vanilla sitting on the armchair watching Cream play on the floor with Cheese, Rouge sighed, her mind went back to what Knuckles tried to do to her, every time she closed her eyes, she could still see the echidna's face coming towards her, his large paws on her body as he tried to invade her.

Rouge bit her lip as she walked towards the house and knocked on the door, no sooner had she done that, Vanilla came to the door, "Hey Rouge!" she said cheerfully, but then her cheerful expression faded when she saw Rouge's pale face. "Rouge?" she asked "are you ok? Come on in!" Rouge walked through the door and through to the kitchen.

"Do you want a cup of tea?" asked Vanilla as Rouge sat herself down at the table. "Please" she whispered, she sat back and stroked her stomach as Vanilla boiled the kettle and prepared two large mugs of tea. She then made the tea and came over sitting opposite Rouge.

"My God" said Vanilla studying Rouge appearance as she sipped her tea, "you look horrible, you look like you haven't slept at all!" "I haven't" said Rouge lowering her mug. "Why?" asked Vanilla "what happened?" "Knuckles" said Rouge "Knuckles?" asked Vanilla surprised.

Rouge nodded, she then began to explain to Vanilla what he tried to do, how he had tried to rape her and how he could have hurt the baby. Vanilla was shocked, "he did that to you?" she asked. Rouge nodded "I don't know why he did" she said "he took me out on these dates and treated me well, but then forced himself on me"

Rouge began to get angry "he took me out on these dates, then I realise he only did it so he could get me in bed, he could have hurt the baby" Vanilla then grabbed Rouge's hands, "hey hey hey" she said soothingly "calm down, it's all over, everything's ok now"

Rouge looked at Vanilla and calmed down, "look Rouge" said Vanilla "what Knuckles did was wrong, but you can't beat yourself up about it" Rouge nodded, but in the back of her head, she kept thinking about how Shadow would have acted, "he probably would have Knuckles slaughtered" she thought. She looked back at Vanilla who stroked her hand still trying to calm her down.

**Poor Rouge....but Vanilla was there to comfort her. That horrible Knuckles! Hope he's ashamed!**

**Let me know what you think!**

**Love Bloodrayne666**


	19. Chapter 19

**WARNING: Contains some strong language.**

**Chapter Twenty**

**Sonic's Vengeance**

As the days went by, Rouge stayed in her apartment and would look at baby magazines, or knit baby clothes. Knuckles hadn't left Angel Island since he had tried to rape her, Rouge thought that maybe he was ashamed about what he had done and he couldn't face her, or even ring her up to apologise.

Rouge had also spend the last few days since her last vision of Shadow on Molly's planet wondering whether to steal the X-Tornado so she could fly into space to the planet to find him and bring him back to Mobius with her. Even though she had these ambitions, she couldn't because she was still heavily pregnant and she couldn't get into Tails's garage at any other time because the Sonic Team were holding their meetings there about the attack on Eggman.

As she was daydreaming, the phone rang making her jump; she hesitated for a moment wondering on who it might be, she then picked up the phone, "h…hello?" she whispered, "Rouge!" Amy's voice called on the other line, "its Amy" "Oh hey Amy" said Rouge, "what's going on?" "Today's the day!" said Amy excitedly "today's the day we attack Eggman's base! The bombs are ready and we're all meeting at Tails's garage in an hour"

"What!" cried Rouge "the attack on Eggman is today!?!" "Yes!" Amy literally screamed down the phone "it's today! Quick! We better get ready!" she then hung up before Rouge could even ask what else was going on. Rouge shrugged, then looked down at her stomach, "even though I cannot go on the actual mission, they may need someone to watch the area" she thought. She carefully put down her knitting and went to get her coat; she then locked her apartment and began to walk to Tails's place so she could attend the meeting.

***

"Ok everyone!" said Sonic "today's the day!", "the day we avenge Chris!" Rouge looked up at the hedgehog that stood in the middle of the garage with the look of determination on his face, "we shall blow that base to smithereens! And everything and everyone in it!" Everyone nodded "and then Eggman will be no more!" said Tails.

"It will be a relief when he is out of the picture" said Espio as she leaned against a wall, "you said it!" agreed Charmy, Amy looked up at Rouge who stood near the door, "what about Rouge?" she asked "She can't come on the actual mission" Rouge looked at Sonic and Amy then saw everyone else looking at her. "Well, I may not be able to help plant the bombs" she said "but I can still help, at least make sure you're all out safe"

"She's got a point" said Tails, "we do need someone to make sure everyone gets out ok after we've set the bombs" "I do wish to help you" said Rouge, "I know I used to work for Eggman, but mainly it was for my own reasons and for Shadow" She looked across to see Knuckles sitting next to Espio, Knuckles then looked away from her uttering a low growl on hearing Shadow's name.

"Ok" said Sonic, he then turned to a large board behind him where he had drawn a scale of Eggman's base, "so we'll all take a certain point to plant the bombs, Amy" he turned to Amy, "you will plant your set of bombs in the area with the oil tanks" Amy nodded, "gotcha Sonic" she said, "Knuckles" Knuckles looked up at the blue hedgehog "you will plant your set of bombs in the area of robots, as you're the strongest out of us you can stand against those robots if they come alive and attack you" "You can count on me" said Knuckles nodding.

Sonic then turned to Tails, "Tails, as you can use flight, you will plant your set of bombs on the roof and door leading to upstairs," Tails nodded, "right on" he said, Sonic then turned to the Chaotix "Chaotix" he said "you will scan the outside area and plant the bombs outside every door and window, make sure no-one gets out alive" "you got it Sonic" said Charmy.

Sonic then turned to Rouge "Rouge" he said "you will wait outside the area with Big, and Cream, your job is to make sure everyone gets out alive, use your walkie talkie to contact us to make sure everyone gets out" "Ok" said Rouge, "and also" said Sonic "could one of you Chaotix stand with her outside to make sure she's ok, in case something happens?"

"I'll wait with her" said Vector, "I'll make sure, her and Cream and Big are safe" Rouge smiled at Vector, "thanks" she said. Soon everyone was agreed with what their role was in the mission, then Sonic revised and went over the plan of how everyone would go in and get out safely.

When everyone fully understood, Sonic closed the meeting, "right" he said "get lots of sleep, we meet outside Eggman's base area at " Everyone agreed then left the garage and began to walk back to their homes to rest before their big mission that evening.

At 10pm, everyone showed up on the outskirts of Eggman's base, Sonic and Tails were standing with the bombs, when everyone arrived; Tails gave them each a bag of bombs. "Ok" said Sonic, "Rouge, Cream, Big, Vector, you wait here, the rest of us split up here, lets set our watches"

So everyone set their watches and picked up their bombs, "ok" said Sonic "everybody ready?" everyone nodded, "lets go!" said Sonic. Everyone then scattered to run to different areas to plant the explosives. Rouge watched as they ran towards the area, she stroked her stomach and bit her lip, hoping they'd all be ok.

Meanwhile inside the base, Eggman had no idea that the Sonic Team and the Chaotix were planting bombs around the area, he was staring at a screen of an upgraded robot and also glancing at a picture of Chris Thorndyke that sat next to his screen.

Each time he looked at the boy in the picture, he smirked, "that was such a rush" he said to himself, "such an amazing sight, seeing that annoying kid get blown up" she went back to typing, when he felt a rush of a breeze behind him, he stood up and looked over his shoulder.

He almost jumped out of his skin to see Sonic standing there with the look of anger on his face, "SONIC!" he cried "what…what are you doing here?!" Sonic crossed his arms and glared at him. "I think you know Eggman!" he snarled, "Chris Thorndyke! You know! The one you blew up in cold blood!?!"

Eggman smirked, "so you've finally come to me to avenge the death of that brat?" he said, Sonic snarled "you dare talk about Chris that way!" he spat angrily, he then flew at Eggman screaming "you're gonna pay!" Eggman quickly dodged and Sonic leapt off the wall. "Well…." Said Eggman the smirk never leaving his face, "I never knew that brat meant a lot to you, it's humorous!" he then ducked again as Sonic flew towards him again.

As sonic went for Eggman, his anger was getting stronger, he then aimed for Eggman and kicked him in the face, Eggman fell backwards against his machine system, he then stood up and held his arms up in front of his face as Sonic aimed for him, Sonic landed against the Doctor's arms, then the Doctor pushed Sonic back sending him flying. Sonic snarled as he jumped up, but the Doctor drew a laser gun from his belt.

As soon as Sonic saw it, he dived under a table as Eggman fired it at him, the beam then split the table, Sonic ran all over the room dodging the fiery blasts, "you can run hedgehog!" shouted Eggman, "but you'll never escape! You're finished! You'll soon be reunited with that brat!"

As soon as Eggman said those words, Sonic finally snapped, he leapt off the wall he was running on and flipped over Eggman's head, he then swung around and kicked Eggman hard in the back, Eggman fell forwards and flat on his face on the metal floor, as he did, he dropped his gun.

Sonic quickly grabbed it and pointed it at Eggman who struggled to stand, as Eggman got to his feet he saw Sonic aiming the gun at him and before he could move, Sonic blasted the Doctor in the legs. Eggman screamed in agony as the fiery beam hit his legs shooting right through them and making him bleed heavily.

Eggman feel to the ground groaning in agony, he looked up at the hedgehog and glared, "Sonic…" he gasped through his agony "you bastard!" Sonic lowered the gun, "you deserve this Eggman! I'll never forget the way you killed our friend! One who helped save our planet!"

Sonic then pulled a bomb out from the backpack he had on his back, "now…you shall die….and be on the path to hell….I've planted bombs around the area, so you and your robots will never escape!" "WHAT!" cried Eggman. Sonic then looked at his watch and saw he had less than 30 seconds to get out before the bombs went off. "Goodbye Doctor" he smirked, he then revved up his feet and ran towards the top window "NNNOOOOOOO!" he heard Eggman shout as he ran off.

Sonic ran as fast as he could to the roof, he then ran towards a tall oak tree and leapt on it then ran down the trunk, no sooner had he done so than the whole base began to erupt in flames, then the whole area exploded in a cloud of flame and smoke and melting metal.

Sonic then ran towards the outskirts where the others were waiting looking both shocked and terrified. Amy ran up to him "Oh Sonic!" she glomped him making the blue hedgehog splutter and choke. "I thought you were trapped in there!" sobbed Amy. "Take it easy Amy!" chuckled Sonic "I'm in one piece!"

He turned to watch the rest of the base explode as he put his arm around Amy, then a shockwave made their hair and quills blow about. Rouge held her stomach and also held onto Vector's arm as the shockwave rushed over them. Sonic then glared at the smoking ruins of Eggman's base. "Good Riddance" he snarled "rest in shit!"

As the Sonic team and Chaotix stared at the burning ruins, Rouge placed a hand over her stomach and began to gasp, Vector turned to her and tried to help, "are you ok Rouge?" he asked, Rouge tried to talk, but she couldn't speak, she fell on her knees and held her stomach groaning in pain. "I….I think it's time" she wheezed. Vector tried to help calm her down as the other's turned to him wondering what was happening. "Rouge's gone into labour!" Vector shouted in a panic.

**So Eggman's dead! But Rouge's in labour! **

**Hope you like!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

**Labour**

Rouge wheezed and gasped as she clasped her stomach, Sonic ran over to her, "Oh God" he cried "we gotta get to the hospital" he scooped Rouge in his arms, "Amy, Tails, you come with me! The rest of you catch on! And get Vanilla too!"

"Right on!" shouted Vector, he began to run to Vanilla's house with Cream and Cheese, Sonic then held Rouge close, whilst Amy and Tails held onto his shoulders. Sonic then revved up his feet and began to run towards the hospital as fast as he could, as Rouge held onto him groaning, she looked up to see a large light shoot across the sky towards the direction of the outskirts of the Mobotropolis City, she thought of it as a shooting star or a comet, but she couldn't be sure. She let out a cry of agony as she felt her muscles squeezing, she gripped Sonic's shoulder as tears fell from her eyes.

As soon as they got to the hospital, Rouge was rushed to the maternity ward, as soon as she got there, she lay on the hospital bed, she kept trying to take deep breathes even though she was in agony. The midwife, a dark brown panther leaned over her, "keep breathing calmly Rouge" she said "the more calmly you breathe, the more relaxed your baby will be and he'll get more oxygen"

Rouge tried to breath calmly, "it hurts so much" she said "my stomach…my back….shoulders…it's so painful" the midwife stroked her forehead, "there there" she said "it'll all be ok" she looked up at Sonic, Vanilla and Amy who stood with her. The midwife then looked at Sonic "you!" she said "can you help?"

"Er…" said Sonic "I can try…" the midwife pulled him over, "stand up Rouge" said the midwife, helping Rouge off the bed, "this will help relax your shoulders" she beckoned Sonic over and the midwife placed Rouge's shaking hands onto his shoulder. "Hold her steady Sonic" said the Midwife "she needs to relax her shoulders" Rouge leaned on Sonic's shoulders as she kept trying to breathe slowly and calmly.

"Well done Rouge" said the Midwife, "that feel better?" Rouge nodded "a little" she whispered, "ok" said the nurse, "just keep taking deep breathes" Rouge continued to breathe calmly as Sonic held her steady. "Well done Rouge" said Amy "just think your baby will be here soon!" Rouge smiled despite her pain.

Meanwhile the others had made it outside, Tails who was waiting outside the door pointed inside, "she's in there" he said, Vanilla looked worried, "I hope she's ok" she said.

Cream looked scared "will the baby be ok mommy?" she asked in a scared voice, Vanilla patted her head "they'll be fine honey" she whispered. The Chaotix looked through the door at where Rouge was, "I hope she's ok too" said Espio. Tails bit his lip as he listened outside the door.

In the room, Rouge was laying on the bed again, Sonic was helping her sit up and Amy was squeezing her hand, the midwife then walked to the side of the bed and touched Rouge's stomach, "Ok Miss Bat, I just got to feel which position the baby's in" Rouge breathed heavily and nodded.

The nurse then began to feel her stomach, she then looked surprised "what is it?!?" cried Rouge, "didn't you know?" asked the midwife, "you're having twins!" Rouge was shocked, but Amy smiled widely "twins!" she cried "that's amazing! Well done!" Sonic also gave a thumbs up "nice work bat-girl!" he grinned. "Ok" said the nurse "you ready?" Rouge then smiled and nodded.

Meanwhile outside the other members of the Sonic team and the Chaotix stood worried as they started to hear Rouge crying out in pain as she was giving birth, Cream began to sniffle, and Vanilla picked her up to comfort her.

Vector bit his lip as he heard Rouge scream, "I hope she can cope" he said, Knuckles wrung his hands, he was starting to think about when he tried to force Rouge into having sex and he was hoping he hadn't hurt the baby. Espio then walked to the door trying to listen to what was going on inside.

He could hear Sonic and Amy and the Midwife trying to encourage Rouge as Rouge kept pushing and crying out in pain, Espio bit his lip. "I feel mainly sorry for the two hedgehogs in there; after all they're the ones having to take the screaming" As he looked away from the door, she suddenly saw a green light on the other side of the double doors in the hall.

As he looked the others also turned and looked "what the hell?!?" cried Knuckles, "Wha!" cried Vector, "Mommy!" cried Cream scared as Vanilla held her close. Espio stood in a fighting stance and pulled out one of his kunai knives. "If it's someone to hurt the baby" he snarled "they'll feel my blade!"

Then the doors opened as the light was fading, then everyone stood and stared, their jaws dropped to the floor "NO!" cried Vector "it can't be!" "It's impossible!" cried Tails. "I can't believe my eyes!" cried Knuckles. They all stared and the figure who stood at the door looking back at them.

**To be continued…..**

**So who was that figure at the door? And will Rouge be ok? Stay tuned and find out!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One**

**Birth Complications**

As the team stared at the figure they were shocked to see none other than the ebony black coloured, red eyed hedgehog, Shadow. He stood there covered in bruises and cuts, he had three scars, one deep one on his shoulder, another above his right eye and part of his ear was ripped away.

"Shadow!" cried Espio dropping his knife in shock "How…?" "You're supposed to be dead!" cried Knuckles, "yeah!" said Vector "we saw you chaos control the exploding planet away from us!" "But…" cried Vanilla speechless "you're alive? How can that be?"

"None of that matters right now!" snarled Shadow "where's Rouge!" Everyone was surprised, and shocked even to answer "tell me where Rouge is!" Shadow demanded. Tails quickly pointed at the door where they could still hear Rouge screaming as she was giving birth. Shadow quickly turned to the door and ran towards it.

Inside the delivery room, Rouge screamed in agony as she gave another push "well done!" cried the midwife, "almost there now!" "Come on Rouge!" called Sonic "you're very brave!" Rouge nodded and gritted her teeth as she pushed hard, as she did; a cry of a baby was heard as it took its first breath.

Rouge fell back as the midwife wrapped the baby in a blanket; she looked up to see a small black hedgehog that looked exactly like Shadow, minus his red stripes and tiny bat wings with a red stripe across the top of them. "Congratulations!" smiled the midwife "it's a boy!" Rouge smiled through her tears "Angel" she whispered as she touched the baby's forehead.

As soon as she did, the door burst open and Shadow appeared, as soon as they saw him, Amy and Sonic were shocked. "Shadow!" cried Amy "how…?" Shadow glared at her, then walked towards the bed, the midwife who was still holding Angel cried out in alarm, "that's my lover!" shouted Shadow "Rouge!"

Rouge who was still dazed by giving birth saw Shadow appear at her bedside, "S...Shadow?" she gasped, she didn't know if she was dreaming or if it was real, "Shadow…? Is it really you?" "Rouge!" Shadow cradled Rouge's head and stroked her cheek "I'm here, I'm alive" Rouge felt tears appear in her eyes as she held his hand that cradled her cheek, "Oh Shad…" she sobbed "I knew you'd come back to me!"

The Midwife, Sonic and Amy watched in surprise, yet it brought joy to their hearts to see Rouge and Shadow reunited and Shadow was alive after the Metarex attack. "Shadow" said Amy "Rouge gave birth to your child…." Shadow looked towards the midwife on the other side of the bed who was holding his newborn son.

Shadow felt tears appear in his eyes as he saw the little hedgehog look at him with his sparkling aqua eyes, as he did, Rouge let out another gasp as she felt the labour for her second child kick in, "ok Rouge" said the Midwife handing Angel to Amy "you ready for the second one?"

"Huh?" asked Shadow "she's having twins!" said Amy happily, Shadow smirked at Rouge and squeezed her hand, "give all you got bat-girl" he said, Rouge nodded and gritted her teeth as she pushed hard. "Again breathe calmly!" said the midwife, Rouge nodded and pushed harder and harder.

"Good well done!" said the midwife, "its coming! I can see its little head!" Shadow grinned and kissed Rouge's forehead as she continued to push, gritting her teeth against the pain. Soon the second baby emerged, it was a small white bat with black stripes on his body similar to Shadow's markings and ebony black wings.

But as soon as it emerged the midwife looked terrified "WHAT!" cried Shadow "what is it!" "She's not breathing properly!" cried the midwife as she wrapped the baby in a blanket. "What!" cried Shadow in a panicked voice. Rouge felt tears appear in her eyes, "no!" she cried.

The midwife quickly called for help and more medical staff rushed in to help the little bat, Rouge began to cry and sob, whilst Shadow stood in shock, Amy and Sonic were also terrified, then Amy felt baby Angel moving around in her arms and gurgling. Amy looked across to Rouge crying and gently shook her shoulder.

Rouge looked up at Amy, her eyes were red and puffy and her face was soaked with tears, Amy then carefully handed Angel to her. Rouge gently cradled the baby hedgehog who lay in the blanket cooing at her, his tiny black quills scratched against the blanket.

Rouge sniffled and kissed his forehead, smiling weakly through her tears, Shadow then looked over from staring at the door and went to sit next to her, he put his arm around her and his other hand stroked his son's tiny head. "My son…" he whispered "my amazing handsome son"

Rouge leaned against his chest as more tears fell, "Shhh" whispered Shadow soothingly, although he had a couple of tears, mainly mixed feelings of the joy of having his first son but also terror of whether his daughter was ok or not. Sonic and Amy were also worried about the little bat.

**So Shadow's returned! Horray! But what is this? The daughter needs medical attention!**

**Stay tuned for what's next!**

**Love Bloodrayne666**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapte****r Twenty-Two**

**Questions of Anguish**

For a while Shadow and Rouge sat there in the ward holding their new son and worrying terribly about their daughter, Sonic and Amy were trying to reassure them but they still couldn't help but worry.

Just then, the door opened making them all look up, the midwife was standing there with another medical assistant, her face pale and sad. She looked up at Sonic and Amy, "If I could have a word with the parents" Amy went pale and tried to ask but Sonic took her hand and squeezed it then lead her out of the ward.

As soon as they got outside everyone looked up and began firing questions at them such as 'Sonic! Amy! What is it! Are they ok?' and 'What's happened!?" Sonic looked nervous as he looked back towards the door, "Well…." He said "they are some complications…"

"What!" everyone cried, "Rouge and the first child are ok….but the second one…." Everyone gasped, "NO!" cried Cream in a frightened voice, "my God!" cried Espio, "will the child be ok?" asked Charmy. "I dunno" said Sonic worried as he looked back at the door.

Meanwhile, inside the Midwife was telling Shadow and Rouge about their daughter's condition and it wasn't good news. "We've been examining her and she's still not breathing properly and…" she bit her lip; it was times like this when she hated her profession, when the news wasn't good.

"…there's nothing more we can do" Shadow went rigid and Rouge started crying again as she held Angel who gurgled unaware of the situation. The midwife turned to a male sandy coloured lion who was holding the baby in a small blanket, "do you want to hold her?" asked the midwife looking at them.

Rouge was so distraught, she shook her head, "I can't bring myself to….." she whispered "I'm….I'm so sorry…" Shadow then gathered his courage "I'll do it" he said in a broken voice holding his arms out to hold his dying daughter. The lion slowly placed her in his arms.

Shadow then cradled her, his throat was hurting from devastation and he felt his heartbeat in his stomach as he looked at the tiny child that lay in the blanket, a small white bat that looked exactly like Rouge with black wings and black stripes adorning her body.

Shadow then felt the tears come and they began to drop on the baby's forehead, "Mariah…" he whispered softly "please don't go…." He kissed her forehead gently as he cradled her "I love you my little princess" he whispered, "I love you so much" he could hear Rouge crying behind him.

As he cradled Mariah more, he felt her body go still and her breathing slow down, Shadow then held her close to his chest as she slowly slipped away. He couldn't hold his sadness in any longer, he could feel the pain of the ARK incident returning to him and the agony of Molly's death during the Metarex battle.

As he cradled her he whispered under his breath through his tears, "am I?….am I being punished? Punished for breaking out of my prison and killing all who held me there and tortured me…all because of a crime I didn't commit?" His mind began to wonder back to when he escaped from Molly's Planet.

_Flashback_

_Shadow sat in the corner of his cell, resting his forehead on his arms, he didn't know how long he could stand the torture for something he didn't do. "I helped you Molly" he said "Rouge and I did everything we could to make sure you were safe…but the Metarex were too dangerous"_

_As he was dreaming the door suddenly opened as two men walked in holding shackles, "ok you creature" said one of them, "the leader wants to see you, and make you suffer more! For our enjoyment!" Shadow looked up "Why…?" he said "Why do you do this to me?" the man then stepped over "come on!"_

_Shadow stood up and snarled at the man, "fuck off!" he spat, "leave me alone! I will not be your creature to abuse and torture more!" the man laughed still cocky and overconfident. "Come on worthless creature! You're supposed to be our entertainment!" he walked over and another man took out a cattle pod ready to shock him with it._

_Shadow backed further against the wall, "stay away from me!" he screamed "stay the fuck away from me!" "get him!" shouted the man, Shadow leapt into the corner, his fury eating up inside of him "get the fuck away!" he then held up his hand than began to glow yellow as his anger got stronger._

_"Chaos Spear!" he shouted, he threw the spears at the man who was closest to him and the spears slashed his body making him fall bleeding, Shadow at first was shocked by what he did, but then realised he remembered his chaos powers, he then lifted his hand again as it glowed yellow._

_He then used his spears on the other man who were in the cell, then ran out the cell door as the alarms sounded, soon the halls were flooded with men holding guns and ropes, Shadow ran through the halls as fast as he could trying to find an exit. He was then stopped in his tracks by some men running towards him._

_"Hold it!" they shouted "get down on the ground!" Shadow snarled at them "fuck you all!" he clenched his fists as they began to glow red, "Chaos Blast!" he shouted, as he shouted that a red explosion went off and the shockwave knocked the men to the floor killing them instantly._

_The explosion shockwave also caused some barrels of oil piled up on some shelves in the next room to fall and spill it's contents, as it did, it hit some lights and the heat caused the oil to catch fire. Shadow then saw the fire appear from the corner of his eye and realised he had to get out before the place blew up._

_He then ran past the dead bodies of the men and towards a door where he could see some of the planes that they used, "Bingo!" he thought, he ran even faster but then was knocked off balance as an explosion went off behind him, he rolled onto his back to see that the area behind him had blown up and the place was catching fire rapidly._

_Shadow quickly jumped to his feet and ran into the plane area, as soon as he did that he leapt into the first plane he saw and started the engine, he then served the plane around and shot outside onto the runway just as the building began to explode, he had only just got up into the air when the building blew up and when up in one big mushroom cloud._

_Shadow hovered the plane in the air and watched as the plane burnt up, he then began to think of all the lives who were in there. But he didn't feel any sympathy towards them, "they kept me prisoner" he snarled "kept me prisoner because they believed I murdered Molly, but I didn't, they deserved to die….all of them" he then powered the plane to fly into space so he could find his way home_

_End Flashback_

"I only did what I did to escape and go home" he looked down at Mariah, his heart almost shattered to pieces as he saw her small serene face, she looked like she was sleeping, but he knew she wasn't.

Shadow kissed her forehead again and nuzzled her, tears still streaming down his face, Rouge sat behind him in the bed cradling Angel who was still cooing and gurgling unaware of what was going on, she knew that little Mariah was gone, and it broke her heart, even though she had given birth to Angel and her lover had returned, she was heartbroken by her daughter's death.

**Awww, how tragic....poor baby Mariah....may she rest in peace (sniffle) **


	23. Chapter 23

**Epilogue**

Three days later, Shadow and Rouge stood in the graveyard looking at a tiny grave, it had in fact been the same spot where Rouge had built the memorial for Shadow, but now that had been removed and Mariah's little grave sat in it's place.

There stood a small statue of an angel bat girl holding a rose and a butterfly on her outstretched hand, and on the plaque in front of it read a message:

**Born into the this world only to fly back to Heaven**

**Mariah the Bat**

**Precious Daughter**

**We're thinking of you always**

**You'll never leave our hearts**

**Sleep tight little princess**

**Love mummy and daddy**

Shadow squeezed Rouge's hand as they stared at it, it had been laid with flowers and messages from the sonic team and the Chaotix, and Cream had even placed a small white bear on the grave.

Rouge's tears fell as she looked at the tiny statue, "I don't understand it" whispered Rouge "why did she have to die?" Shadow shook his head, "it's my fault" he whispered "I shouldn't have disappeared in the first place; I should never have done what I did" his mind went back to when he had slaughtered the people who held him prisoner as he had escaped.

Rouge looked up and nuzzled her head against his, "please don't say that Shad" she whispered, "please don't blame yourself" Shadow squeezed his eyes shut, "I should have been there" he whispered "with you the whole way, then maybe things would have been different"

Rouge reached up her hand and stroked Shadow's cheek comfortingly, "you were brave Shadow" she whispered tracing the scar on his eye, "my brave dark hero" she looked down at Mariah's grave. Her tears fell again as she remembered how peaceful the little bat looked, comfortable in her father's arms as she had slipped away from their lives.

"Only less than three hours old" she whispered, "just a tiny fragile delicate child, taken too soon, too soon, only lived a short while to fly back to heaven" she looked at Shadow who slowly placed a teddy bear on the grave next to the statue, he then held up a small piece of paper with a message:

'_**I know that wherever you are, it is a happy place, hopefully you will meet those you knew me and they will look after you well and love you as much as they did me, you were a joy to me and your mother until you were taken from us too soon, one day we will join you and we'll be a family completed**__**, Goodbye my precious child, and sleep tight'**_

Shadow then stood up, more tears falling, "I know our baby girl is happy" he whispered as he stood next to Rouge, "she will never know the unhappiness or cruelty we knew, she's in heaven….along with Maria, the Professor and Molly, they are looking after her"

Rouge rested her head on Shadow's shoulder feeling a little comforted by his words, but still heartbroken at Mariah's passing, she looked at the statue again as tears flowed from her eyes. "Only for a couple of hours Mariah" she whispered "you were in our lives, but now you're gone…there is a gap….only you could fill that gap" she looked down at Angel who curled up in her arms sleeping"

"When your big brother is older Mariah" she whispered "I will tell him about you" she kissed Angel's forehead "I'll make sure you're never forgotten, never, you'll never leave my heart…soul…or my life…my precious princess….be at peace" she placed a red rose in the teddy bear's hand.

Shadow then wrapped his arm around Rouge, "she's at peace Rouge" he whispered "come…" he whispered "let's go home" Rouge nodded "ok" she whispered, Shadow then slowly lead her out of the graveyard.

**THE END**

**So Shadow came home and was reunited with Rouge and Angel, yet they suffered a loss, rest in peace little Mariah.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. **

**Now I'm gonna start _Behind Blue Eyes_ which stars The Deadly Six from _Beauty's Imprisonment_! I'm making this a Christmas fic, so watch this space!**

**Love Bloodryane666**


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